52. North American Hubris

Date Written: April 10, 2019

Date Posted: April 27, 2020

Characters: Veneziano, Romano, America, Canada

Summary: The Italy brothers reluctantly visit the American twins.

Notes:

The day had finally come. After years of prayer, sacrifices, and pure unadulterated hope, the Italy brothers had finally run out of excuses. At the unreasonable hour of whatever-time-it-was, both brunets wheeled their luggage to the waiting area, both of them wanting to collapse from the sheer dullness of having not stretched their legs for many hours. However, due to sheer force of will, both brothers managed to stay alert and ready for the next course of action. As they waited, Romano grumbled under his breath and played with the apps on his phone while Veneziano busied himself with fiddling with the zipper on his suitcase.

As minutes passed and there was no sign of anyone picking them up, Romano began to grow antsy. What exhaustion he had experienced after attending the flight seemed to disappear as his leg bounced up and down as his anxiety began to mount.

"Where the hell are those two useless shitstains!" Romano demanded. Ignoring his brother's shrug, he continued talking, "Aren't they always complaining that we're always late? Well, guess what! We're here right on time—"

At that moment, Veneziano abruptly stood up and waved both arms as if he were summoning foreign aid.

Or surrendering.

"Stupidi idioti!" Much to the amusement of all the other travelers, the Italian continued waving his arms and jumping on his feet. "We're here!"

Romano groaned as he, too, jumped to his feet to scan the crowd for their friends.

"Can you even try to be a little louder?" Romano asked sarcastically. "I don't think those two dorks know we're here."

Veneziano nodded. "CIAO! WE WILL FLIRT WITH ALL OF YOUR WOMEN IF YOU DON'T COME HERE FASTER!"

At that precise moment, two very tall blonds emerged from the crowd. One of the pair was trying to calm the other down. Upon closer inspection, it was actually the Canadian trying to flee from his American brother's grasp. Huh, Veneziano thought, who knew that Canada could get so aggressive? As America trapped his brother into a headlock, Veneziano gathered up his suitcase and approached the pair with wild cheer.

"America! Canada!"

Carefully, he pecked them on the cheeks. Both of the North Americans had to bend down a little just so that they could receive the standard greeting, but they did so with bashful grins. As a pair, they turned to the older Italian, but found that a glare had planted itself on his face. There was no way that he was going to kiss those idiots for being so tardy.

"Come on, 'Mano!" America tried to cajole Romano. He slung an arm over his friend's shoulders, but found himself on the receiving end of a jab to the ribs. As he keeled over in shock rather than in actual pain, Canada tried his best to greet Romano.

"Sorry we were a little late." Canada let out a small laugh that seemed a touch too forced before he elaborated. "We wanted to make sure that our place was… habitable."

Already, Romano knew that this was going to be one hell of a vacation. And no, he didn't mean that to be a compliment. Meanwhile, Veneziano entertained those same thoughts of reservation, but he didn't let that show on his face. Instead, he linked his arm through Canada's and followed him out of the airport and into the outside. He began to talk about the things they were going to do, what sights he and his brother wanted to explore, what restaurants they could go eat—

"Oh," Canada interrupted. He turned to face Veneziano with a slight smile on his face that seemed to be tinged with the slightest hint of mischief. "You don't have to worry about that. We actually have a home cooked meal waiting for you guys."

That caught Veneziano's attention. That wasn't part of the deal.

"O-oh, really?"

"Yup!"

"...and that would be?"

"My special macaroni and cheese!"

Veneziano immediately began backtracking towards the airport.

"American food is so gross!"