In-Tune
Rating: T
Summary: It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. Sparomano AntonioxLovino
BrooklynBabbii
Author Alert:
Story alert/ Favorites: ** Alexia-Esco, AnimeCompletesYourLife, RandomWriter57, FreedomFighter50**
Reviewer(s)!: ** Lovi's Tomato Lover(2), Alexia-Esco, Lady-Pyrien, NaruIchi**
Lovi's Tomato Lover: (Toby: My mom, adorable? Don't let my idiot of a dad hear that… And thank you for complimenting my bite. I try~ Again, the marriage? Mom might not even throw rocks…she will run you down the road with a tractor! DX)
And I apologize for the lack of Spamano these last few chapters. At least you saw a glimpse of smut, ja? And Toby, you're underage! Romano would kill me if he found I let you see anything resembling porn! (I can see Spain with a kid or two, but not with a girl…unless it's a fem!Romano…wait, does that even exist? Never mind…)
I'm sorry about your kitty. QxQ I don't like cats much, I'm a big dog person, cats scare me…it's the eyes! They watch you at night like Hungary! XD
When you read this chapter, don't kill me. Don't spam me either with a virus. Toby has no girlfriend…yet, Romano keeps killing them all. However, it is sad and it does involve Isabella. Thanks for the words of good luck! In Ireland, you would be arrested! :D
Lovi's Tomato Lover (2): Please stop crying! You can hold Toby if you stop crying! He has a community now! You can visit him!
Alexia-Esco: Thank you and you read this all in one go? Sounds like something I do! Thank you for reviewing!
AnimeCompletesYourLife: Yes, yes, it very much does~ XD
Lady-Pyrien: Hehe, I do think you are the first to point it out~ That was on purpose!
RandomWriter57: LOL, everyone wants a Toby, now~ And Feli shall return, I promise! I shall try my best to meet your expectations! *salutes back*
NaruIchi: You're welcome. And thank you for your words of comfort.
Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0
.:Chapter Nine:.
[ANTONIO]
It had been a few months since he had told Lovino about…that part of his past. It seemed like Lovino had taken it well. Selina seemed to like Lovino, at least in his eyes, and Isabella just adored the Italian. But still…This was his first time introducing Isabella to someone like Lovino. He tried not to worry, but his paternal instincts came up and he ended up a nervous wreck. It wasn't his fault. He blamed…
Damn, he thought, he realized he had no one to blame for this. Slamming his head into the kitchen table, he muttered, "Crap."
Lovino walked in, already dressed in a slim sepia V-neck shirt and a pair of light tan shorts. His hair still dripped slightly as he stole a tomato from off the basket. "What are you going on about now, bastard?"
First things first, he thought, as he lifted his head to say, "You can't say that in front of Isabella, or any of your other swears," then he emphasized, "Italian or otherwise." Antonio's face was completely serious and Lovino said nothing as he chewed the red fruit in his mouth. After swallowing, he sighed lightly, "Fine then, whatever, it's your kid."
Antonio started to smile and then his smile faltered as he realized he had forgotten the date. "Lovi, crap, what day is today?" Lovino raised a brow, not really understanding why the Spaniard was panicking so much over such a small thing.
He glanced at the calendar, taking a bite of his tomato again, "Uh, April twenty-seventh." He watched as the Spaniard bolted from the table, knocking over his chair and taking the stairs in leaps and bounds.
What the fuck, the Italian pop artist thought, as he voiced his thoughts aloud. "What the fuck, Antonio?" Said Spaniard called back as he dug through his drawers for something decent for him to wear. "Crap-crap-crap-crap, it's today!"
"What's today?" Lovino asked, nodding to Toby sunbathing on the tiled floor right in front of the back door to the backyard. Seeing that the turtle was fine for now, he sighed and jogged up the stairs. Taking two at a time, and still managing to eat his tomato at the same time, he made it to the top of the stairs just in time to see a frantic Antonio giving him a worried smile.
The Spaniard shoved a hundred dollars into Lovino's hands, shocking the Italian. He knew that the other made a lot of money from his job at the university, but to just hand off money, that was kind of ridiculous for him. "Lovino, could you do me a favor? Can you go the toy store and buy something cute and nice for Isabella?"
The Spaniard seemed to pause and then he took the hundred bill back and shoved his black debit card in Lovino's hands, instead. "I take that back, something really nice, money is not a consideration for my little girl."
Lovino blinked, as Antonio went back into their shared room to pick out an outfit. Then, he frowned as he pocketed the card, "Why am I doing this again?" Honestly, it was just a little girl; he didn't see the need to give him his bank card. That meant anything over a hundred dollars was acceptable and the more expensive the better.
"It's her birthday, Antonio responded, "Selina is going to expect nothing but the best." Lovino blinked, and then he yelled, "And you just think about this now!" Antonio whined from inside of the room, torn between his green polo or the red silk dress shirt. "I'm sorry, lo siento, Lovi, it just came to mind, I swear!"
Lovino sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Whatever, whatever, bastard," he said, and then thought about it. "I need her sizes—
"Shirt is four, pants is six." Antonio said, before he could finish as he threw the red dress shirt back and dug for a pair of shorts. Lovino raised a brow. "Why did you toss the shirt?"
Antonio looked up, surprised. "Isabella says she likes it better when I wear green." Lovino nodded, he wouldn't admit it, but he thought so too.
"I'll be back," he said over his shoulder.
"Hurry," Antonio said, as he started his sprint to the bathroom. "I'll be ready in under an hour and then I'll text Selina to find out when Isabella gets out of school today." Lovino nodded, and then he thought of something, just for fun. He gave Antonio a faux worried look, "Uh, Antonio…it's Saturday."
That was the second day in their whole relationship that he heard Antonio swear. But this time, Lovino laughed as he walked downstairs. He would tell the bastard later, it was actually Friday.
Maybe.
[LOVINO]
He looked over the cutesy shirts and skirts in the little girls' section. Personally, he found the punk rocker things better looking than the pink and frillier ones. He frowned, as he flipped further through the designer clothes.
Then, it dawned on him. He had stolen Selina's number, not technically stealing since he was bound to ask for it or get it sometime. He scrolled through his contact list, thinking, and then pressed on her icon. He brought the phone to his ear and waited as it rung.
He and Selina had talked a few times, and for the most part, they got along. The both of them liked tomatoes, disliked Germans, and found various people annoying and worthy of kicking off the planet. Selina had a small problem with trusting others, as she had told him that people tend to think lowly of her since she had been a teenage mother.
Lovino helped her get over those negative views of herself and she helped him to get in better with Antonio. It seemed to be a win-win situation. She liked swimming and was willing to teach him when she found he didn't really know how. She was a really nice woman.
She even offered to teach him some new recipes to cook at home if he could just visit her every once in a while. She had seen how attached Isabella had become to the Italian and how the little girl actually knew who he was as Romano.
So, here Lovino was, in a designer clothes shop, in the little girls' section, talking to Selina about Isabella, while people stared at him. One woman whispered, "Someone please tell me he's not taken…please."
Lovino looked up, and saying something into the mouthpiece, he looked over to the punk rocker section once more. "I told you the bambino liked punk more. She takes after me, after all." Inwardly, he was laughing at how close to tears a few of the women looked once the words left his mouth. He had to smirk.
"Right, right, and now," Lovino replied to Selina and then he scoffed. "She's getting older; she doesn't want to be a princess forever. She'd rather be a pop star like me." A whimper from across the room, and Selina said something.
Lovino smirked, "Hey, if the little bambino wants to wear it, it's fine by me; as long as she doesn't decide that she wants a piercing. Then, I'm going to have to tell her Hell no." A woman nodded, and whispered, "He's a good dad." A few women nodded, but that one woman looked like she was still about to cry, sniffling as she looked through the jeans for teens.
Lovino ended the call sometime later, feeling better as he picked out several punk rocker outfits and pair of black boots with a silver chain-led zipper. After checkout, he ventured through town, to the toy store to find the other things Selina mentioned that Isabella liked.
The little girl was into music, and punk rock. She loved tomatoes and adored animals. She liked to draw things off her favorite Japanese animes. She didn't like pink much, unless it was candy, then she had no problem in taking it. She also did not like anything to do with princesses much. Selina said she had outgrown the princess adoration phase.
And so, with Antonio's card, he ended up buying her a tomato plush toy, and a small children's keyboard piano. He was right about to stop when he saw the tomato charm bracelets. After a few seconds of inner debating, he took one for himself. After a few seconds, he realized the packets came in groups of four. He grinned, as he thought of them wearing the bracelets: him, Antonio, Selina and little Isabella.
He couldn't help but laugh as he walked to the checkout. That was funny to think about as he waited in line and looked at the gossip magazines and shook his head disapprovingly as he read about how Feliciano had been caught holding a blue-eyed baby boy with auburn hair, most likely, the potato bastard's nephew, Aiden.
Though he had to admit, Feliciano looked a bit too happy (or as the magazine put it: "comfortable") with Aiden as he was caught in a photo playing soccer with Ludwig. He inwardly smiled, at least he was happy.
He also plotted how long it was going to take the paparazzi to catch him with Isabella and Antonio. Not long, probably.
He made it home just as Antonio was fussing with Toby to put on a party hat. The turtle had his stubbornness and was adamantly hiding under the couch despite Antonio's best efforts with slices of tomato and the party hat in his other hand.
Lovino shook his head, as he thought, and I love this idiot?
Antonio looked up, almost appearing defeated as he just ate the tomato slice. Muttering something under his breath, he groaned, "Why won't you wear the party hat? It even has red dots to look like tomatoes, Toby, why not?"
The turtle glared at him and hunched further in its shell under the couch. Lovino suddenly made his presence known as he said, "Oi, bastard, the stuff needs to be wrapped." Antonio's head snapped up and he grinned at Lovino, making said Italian's heart race a bit faster and his face dust a light pink.
"Gracias, Lovi, gracias, gracias, gracias!" The Spaniard hugged him, and Lovino snorted. He puffed his cheeks and let out a long stretch of hair. "Okay, we have, like, an hour until two, can you go ahead and let me the fuck go?"
Antonio nodded and then quickly set him down on his feet to race to retrieve the presents for wrapping. Lovino walked to the couch, and knelt to see Toby. "Get out of there or I'm going to make you." Toby poked its head out and, upon seeing it was only Lovino, came out as quickly as it was able.
Lovino sighed, "What am I going to do with you?" Toby wagged its tail, seemingly grinning. Its eyes seeming to say, "Kick the bastardo's ass, right?"
Lovino narrowed his eyes, "No, violence, bambi…" His eyes widened, as his lips stopped. Toby continued to watch its tail…or rather, his tail. Lovino checked the turtle's back again. Those specific marking stared back at him. Toby wasn't a girl. His spots were different. "Wait, you're a boy?"
Antonio popped back in, tape on his face and pieces of wrapping paper stuck to his chin. He raised a brow, "You didn't know that?" Lovino's face darkened. "Nobody asked you!"
Antonio laughed as he went back to wrapping the gifts. And then his voice came again, "Can I have the receipts?" Lovino frowned, but he nodded as he dug through his pocket and pulled the card and all the receipts he had from his shopping for Isabella.
Antonio took one look at it and he giggled. Lovino frowned, as he flicked Toby's leg as said turtle attempted to bite his finger for simply to do in the Italian's arms. Antonio smiled, "You spent less than I thought you would."
Lovino frowned further, "Was I supposed to buy her a car?" Antonio nearly panicked, "she wanted a little car?" Lovino sighed as the daddy Spaniard looked at the gifts on their kitchen table, half of them wrapped perfectly and lying in a neat stack by the wall and the others waiting for the same treatment. Antonio whimpered, close to tears, "She wanted a car, I didn't know…"
Lovino wanted to slap the Spaniard across the back of his head. In fact, he did. Antonio yelped and then said, "What was that for?"
Lovino shook his head, "Idiot, I was kidding. Isabella is too young to drive."
"They make mini cars for kids, Lovino," Antonio said and Lovino blinked. Toby continued to play with the Italian's finger over his face. "Really? Since fucking when?" Antonio thought about it, "Um, I don't know when, I think I started noticing them when I was in late high school."
Lovino nodded and then frowned, "How old are you?"
Antonio answered with little hesitation, "Nearly twenty-sex, why?" Lovino felt so young all of sudden, he was only turning twenty-three this year. So he said the first thing to come to mind, "Fucking Pedophile…"
He turned on his heel with a gift, the keyboard and made his way to the front door. Selina's house was just down the street. He was walking this.
Just as he came to the door, he was met with a familiar face, his amber eyes widened and then narrowed, "What the fucking Hell are you doing here?"
Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0
Um, I decided against the whole bad ending chapter. I was like: "Fuck it" and decided to just give this story a slightly less tear-inducing twist instead.
Cliff hangers, they're an author's best friend in crime.
^_^ Hope it's well-liked.
If you're not totally mad at me—
READ AND REVIEW.