Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.
A/n1: Have you ever met Dr. Hernández? No? Well you're about to.
By the way, evil!cliffhanger up ahead. Tee hee!~ *protects herself with indestructible shield*
A/n2: I totally forgot to tell you about this, but did you know that the G7 (Russia momentarily isn't part of it anymore, because of the conflicts in Ukraine) held the Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands this week? Monday and Tuesday, all of the world's leaders were here to discuss how to deal with and protect the world from nuclear danger. Streets in Amsterdam and its surrounding cities were closed for the normal people and Obama even went to the Rijksmuseum. Because that's what you do when you're in the Netherlands – you go take a look at the Nachtwacht (The Night Watch) by Rembrandt. XDDDDDDD Thought I should let you guys know!
A/n3: By the way, remember the guy (T.) that wanted to date me? Well, I rejected him. Indirectly, like a total fucking coward. But hey, maybe it's any consolation that he never told me he liked me? That we're even now or something like that?
It isn't?
Oh, okay… OTL
Anyway, I still managed to get a fairly good, platonic relationship with him, and we're kind of like friends now. Thing is, I'm pretty impressed he didn't run away crying after my rejection (I thought he was a wuss, remember?), so by keeping his head up and staying friendly towards me anyway, he made a good impression on me.
So I said 'alright' when he asked me out yesterday night (we're going to Heavylight tonight, how about that?).
'Don't worry, I don't expect anything, we're only friends,' T. reassured me, but, well…
My parents and friends all think I should totally make my boyfriend, because I obviously like him a lot.
But I'm just really confused.
He's kind and I always feel sort of happy and at ease whenever he's around, but I still don't feel like jumping him or whatever. He's just "nice". And he has these stupid habits and tics that really annoy me. Also, he tends to dwell around in his own misery for too long. I think he'll get on my nerves extremely fast if we do end up together, since I'm pretty zippy and outgoing.
Please give me some advice, I'm so confused and weirded out by all of this. :(
~~ And Three Makes Five ~~
Chapter 43:
Times are bad. Children are no longer obeying their parents, and everybody is writing a book.
Cicero
(Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul, constitutionalist and what-not, seriously,
let's face it, this badass could probably kick your butt in every single subject you can think of)
Well…
Nothing… much happened during the rest of the week, I have to confess. The only things that did happen over the course of days, were the following:
1: Lovino came up with a few "criminally awesome master plans" to trick Guillermo with, and he was so very enthusiastic about it that I couldn't tell him that most of his plans were too fantastic and big to actually put into action (I swear, one of his blueprints – YES, he even had BLUEPRINTS – involved a blimp and a shrimp salad), because I didn't want to break his heart/get chewed out.
2: I made lots and lots of comfort food, because comfort food is bad for you and therefore good for me, or so Lovino reasoned. I needed to get fat, so he wouldn't have to be scared to accidentally hurt me if he wanted to hold or cuddle or manhandle me. That was kind of cute and I admit that I felt tempted to eat all that bad food, but in the end, I just felt nauseous whenever I saw all that fat, dripping off the churros or sparking on the fried chicken, so in the end I still didn't eat all that much.
3: I gave Lovi an unexpected blowjob late in the afternoon one day, while the kids were playing outside. Lovino's face looked like it was about to explode when I just, hop, tugged his pants down as he was dusting off some old sculptures, but he was more than willing to just let me suck him off, no matter how much he tried to hide it by stammering I should stop because the kids could come in any second. In fact, that even made it more arousing to us, I think. Good thing the kids thankfully enough only came back into the House when dinner was ready and Lovi and I had both calmed down again.
4: Lovi attempted to give me a blowjob as well, but I kept grabbing his head, what caused him to cringe in pain, what ultimately forced us both to stop – but oh well, a handjob can be pretty satisfying as well, oh yes, especially when Lovi's hands are doing the deed.
5: Lovi and I also did some responsible, parental things, like thinking of plans and/or education materials and activities concerning Italy and Spain to teach the kids. It was not before too long we realized – once again – that our countries had pretty depressing, shocking and unpleasant backgrounds, and we also decided the kids were a bit too young to understand politics and economics yet as well, so… yeah, eventually, we couldn't really decide what to do with all that, but at least our teaching ambitions were a work in progress.
6: America sent us a confusing postcard from England, only writing that he was 'getting closer to the truth, peace bitches!', which made Lovi and I exchange looks that said 'what the hell is he even doing, oh my god, did he attempt to draw a penis, oh wait, it's a V-sign, or is it'.
And last but not least, 7: The kids didn't seem to have a worry in the world and got more adorable and huggable than ever, which was good.
And… that's about it.
…
Okay, I guess quite a bit happened in that one week, judging from that list, but still – it could have been much more.
Although I could tell Lovino felt bored most of the time, I have to say that I actually enjoyed this week. It was nice, peaceful and relaxing, and I just loved watching my humble little tomato garden in the light of the setting sun, with Lovi sitting next to me on the veranda and the kids surrounding us as he told them yet another interesting fairytale.
But, well.
Nothing last forever, and things kind of got stirred up again when the day doctor would come by finally arrived.
/0o0\
I was trying to put Alejo in a shirt and Lovino just got out of the shower when the doorbell rang.
Because I didn't hear Lovino sprinting out of the bathroom in his hurry to bombard Guillermo with his terrifying plans – I guess he was still grooming himself – I told Alejo I was going to be back in a sec and descended the stairs.
Hmm. I didn't feel that positive about Guillermo's visit, since he had been very mean towards Lovi and the kids before. I was actually planning to sack him as soon as he had finished patching Lovi up, because this just wasn't working out anymore.
…
On the other hand, if he was going to apologize to Lovino and endure his crazy schemes, I, and Lovino, would probably forgive him. We're pretty forgiving people – well, I am – so it was all up to Guillermo, I guess.
'Yes,' I said, as I reached for the knob and opened the door, 'good morning, Guillermo, how have you…'
I stared right into a face of a Spanish man I had never seen before.
'…been?' I confusedly ended my sentence.
The Spanish man in front of me looked at me as if he was bewitched and he blinked with his big brown eyes, speechless, before smiling amusedly.
'Why, I've never been better, Mr. Spain, thank you for asking! How are you?'
…
So.
A strange man was standing in front of my door. I didn't know the guy, but he did know that I was Spain's representation, and he seemed to have some business with me.
Was this guy a PPSS-associate?
'I'm… fine, I guess. By the way, who are you?' I asked him, smiling as casually as possible while also casually blocking the entrance.
'I'm Dr. Delgado!' The young man – he probably was in his early thirties – smiled reassuring at me. 'Don't worry, I come in peace! Ahahahahaha!'
I didn't like the way he started laughing, just like that, so I narrowed my eyes a bit.
'You're not Dr. Delgado, Dr. Delgado is an elderly man. You're not elderly at all, you're… well, you're young.'
The young man chuckled. 'Aw, busted! Alright, alright, I'm not exactly Dr. Delgado. I'm Ángel Hernández Delgado – so I'm Dr. Hernández. But I get many tourists at my medical facility in Madrid, and they always call me Dr. Delgado, so I figured – but you're Mr. Spain, so I guess I don't have to explain that.'
I kept on staring at the man, my mind completely, utterly blank and empty and confused. Who in the world was this guy, what was his connection to Guillermo, if there even was a connection, and what did he want from me?
Dr. Hernández seemed to notice I was getting annoyed, since he quickly stopped chuckling.
'Um, anyway, I'm coming in Dr. Delgado's place, since he seems to be sick. I'm his grandson. After my grandfather retires, I'm destined to become your personal doctor – so I'm quite well-informed about you and your partner's situation. Could… um, could I come in now?'
'Guillermo is sick?' I was surprised to hear that, but much more surprised I was to hear the cranky old man actually managed to find someone to marry and have kids with (it sounds a bit mean, I know, but it was Dr. Delgado we were talking about here). 'What does he have? Nothing too serious, I hope?'
For a second, a hint of disappointment and embarrassment appeared on the young doctor's face.
'I'm sorry, Mr. Spain, but Grandpa Guillermo and I… Dr. Delgado and I, I mean, aren't on speaking terms. I don't know what's the matter with him, I can only hope it's something minor.'
'Oh.' I rubbed my chin. So Guillermo couldn't even get along with his own grandson, eh? Well, it figures, I guess… he's not the grandpa-kind of guy.
'Excuse me, Mr. Spain, but may I say that we seem to… um… well, we look extremely alike, don't you think?' Dr. Hernández suddenly said.
I frowned and started looking at him a bit better. 'Huh? Really?'
'Really!' The doctor instantly opened the little suitcase he was carrying, managed to pull out something that seemed like a dossier and took a look in it. 'Um, just one moment, let me… ah! Yes, I knew it, even our surnames have a lot in common, Mr. Spain – or should I say, Mr. Fernandez?'
Dear god, did he just wink at me, like I had agreed to make this our little inside-joke?
'Um,' I muttered, very uncomfortable and not knowing what to do. 'Right, so… you want to come in?'
He hastily put away all of his paperwork again and nodded. 'Yes, that would be a honor! I can't wait to see how a personification would decorate his House, ahahahaha!~'
I watched him suspiciously as he easily walked past me, into my House.
…
…
He wasn't like me at all.
Seriously, why did that guy think we had a lot in common? I didn't laugh like that, his laugh was very, very stupid! And he didn't look just like me, either – his eyes were completely different, and his hair weren't a bunch of silly dark-brown curls bouncing up and down on his head. His hair was completely under control! Also, tildes! I never used those! Almost never!
'Well!' Dr. Hernández jollily disturbed my thoughts, as soon as he stood in the hallway and had gazed at all of my artifacts enough to his liking. 'Could you please introduce me to your husband, then?'
Once again, he surprised me. 'You know I'm married to a man?'
He smiled. 'Like I said, Mr. Spain, I'm going to be your next personal doctor. So yes, I know!'
'You're not grossed out… um, I mean, you're fine with that?'
'Oh, absolutely.' Dr. Hernández seemed to flush a bit. 'After all, I'm engaged to a man as well.'
'You don't say!' I raised my eyebrows. Some things started to click in my mind. I think I could tell why Guillermo and his grandson didn't talk to each other anymore.
He was too annoying for old Guillermo!
…
Just kidding – he was gay. Ahahaha…
'Papaaaaaaaa,' I then all of a sudden heard Luisa's high, window-shattering voice echoing from out of the living room, ' Papa Toni, I need to pee! Where's the pee-room, dammit!'
I looked from the living room's direction to the doctor. 'Oh. Um, my daughter's calling… it's it okay if you go meet Lovino by yourself?'
Dr. Hernández nodded, so overwhelmed by so many things – maybe by the daughter part, maybe by the Lovino part, maybe by all of the parts – that he couldn't even form comprehend words anymore.
Anyway, I didn't feel like hearing him gush again, so I just handwaved he should go.
'He's upstairs, third door. But I suggest you knock before waltzing in – Lovi tends to head-butt people that just barge in.'
I could tell, after all.
'Right,' the doctor stammered, 'oh god, I'm so excited, you even have kids – you have an entire family – oh, maybe… maybe Mr. Romano is just like my fiancé!~'
I hoped not.
…
Oh my god, I really hoped not.
Maybe I should come with him anyway, before he'd see Lovino and be like "damn that man's gorgeous" and—
'PAPA!' Luisa nagged again. 'COME HELP ME NOW!'
But first things first – I'd better go help Luisa, before she'd soil herself and put the blame on an innocent bypassing squirrel.
/0o0\
I was just standing outside the toilet near the living room, having a cute conversation with Luisa – she always wanted the door to be open whenever she went to the toilet, ever since Alejo had scared her with a creepy story about a Poo Ghoul living in the sewers or something – when a loud, icy and terrified cry of pure terror hollered through the entire building.
'RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME, PERVERT!'
'Lovino?' I said to no one particular and wanted to race upstairs – but then Luisa's pointy glare stabbed my back and pinned me to the floor.
'Papa. No.'
'But… but…!' I said, making weird, upward gestures.
'If you go, the Poo Ghoul will eat me!' She pouted. 'I…I don't wanna be eaten, dammit.'
'Okay princess, okay,' I stammered, repressing the need to impatiently pace around, 'but hurry up a bit, will you, your Papa Lovi's screaming for help!'
'Papa Lovi always screams,' Luisa dryly remarked, 'most when it's night.'
I recalled Lovino always had been kind of loud in bed whenever he wanted it rough, so I could only grin nervously and make a mental note to tell Lovino later he should really consider keeping his voice down next time we were going to have hard sex, since Luisa, apparently, is a light sleeper and hears him.
'Done,' Luisa mumbled and hopped off the toilet, fixing her clothes.
'Yes?' I hopefully said. 'Can I go now, Lulu?'
She looked up at me, huffy. 'I wanna go upstairs, too.'
'Great – I'll carry you!'
'N-no!' She blushed, folding her arms. 'Y-you can't carry me. You're a dumb papa.'
A literal translation of her sentence to normal people would be "I would love it if you carried me, papa", but she was pulling a toddler!Lovi again and therefore, this could take a while.
'ANTONIO!' Lovino roared.
'Coming!' I shouted back. 'Luisa, come on honey, I really don't have time for this…'
'YOU. CAN'T. CARRY. ME.' Luisa's head was going to explode if it would become any redder. I knew she wanted me to use all of my special daddy tactics to convince her it was okay to sit in her father's arms, but…
'U-u-UWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH…HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!'
'PAPA, TEO FELL ON MIA!'
'WHAT THE FUCK IS TAKING YOU SO LONG, YOU EGOISTIC BASTARD!'
…
…
Just another day in paradise, ahahahaha!
Ahahaha… ha…
I needed a break.
/0o0\
After bringing a crying and kicking Luisa upstairs, plucking Matteo out of Mia's vile, needle-y clutches and telling a baffled, half-dressed Alejo to look after his furious sister and bawling brother, I didn't know how fast I barged into the bedroom, but let me tell you that it was pretty darn fast!
'Lovino,' I wheezed as I stood in the door opening, 'I'm here, it's okay, what's the matter?'
Just a few feet away from me, Lovino was standing, wrapped up in bedsheets and wielding a broom. He was shaking and panting and staring down at something that laid on the floor, apparently.
'A-about time you came, you asshole,' he hoarsely said, before running towards me and clutching my waist so tightly I thought he was going to squeeze my very soul out.
'Lovi,' I choked out, freeing myself out of his grip, 'w-what…'
'I was standing in the bathroom, getting myself ready! Completely naked! As always!' Lovi burst out. 'And then! Some guy appeared! I… I thought it was you, so I asked him to come and… and then…'
'And then…?'
'I just wanted him to fucking come inside the bathroom already, because I wanted… I-I wanted…'
Lovino didn't end his sentence, but his heated cheeks told me exactly what he wanted to do with me in the bathroom.
'Oh,' I stupidly said.
'But then this guy suddenly came in, and at first I was like, wow, Antonio has gotten a bit fatter, nice, that body'll fit nice between my thighs, but then I suddenly realized it was a fucking stranger, dammit! And he looks just like you!'
I felt offended. 'No he doesn't!'
'Yes, he does! Just look at him!'
Lovino pointed a trembling finger towards the floor, and now I could see it was the doctor, who had been knocked out by Lovino and was slowly beginning to regain his consciousness, judging from his twitching limbs and such.
'It's a burglar!' Lovino hissed, gripping my arm now. 'Call the police! Wait, I still have some unpaid traffic tickets – you know what, just kick him the fuck out, dump him in a shady alley and leave some vague instructions about his exact location to the police!'
'Yeah, that won't make you look like a suspicious person that doesn't pay his bills at all.' I chuckled, even though I didn't feel like chuckling. 'Lovi, calm down. You didn't knock out a burglar – you knocked out the doctor.'
Lovino stared at me. 'The doctor? But he's not—'
'He's Guillermo's grandson, and he's also a doctor.'
'Oh. So I just beat the crap out of…'
'Yep, you just beat the crap out of.'
'Oh.' Lovino let go of me and scratched his nose. 'Well, shit.'
/0o0\
'Um, well. Uh. I guess I should apologize for… yeah, this.'
'No, no, you don't have to, Mr. Romano! It's my fault – I should have known you expected to see Mr. Spain. And I – ow – I think you were very right to attempt to bash my brains in, yes yes, very right indeed! Ahahahaha!~'
Lovino, who was cleaning the cut on the doctor's forehead with some iodine and nonchalantly preparing a band aid as well (ever since getting kids, we used more band aids than we had ever done before), gave me a humored smirk.
'What?' I said, shrugging. 'Why are you looking at me like that?'
'Oh, nothing.' Lovino chuckled. 'Patching up a doctor is just very funny.'
Well I doubted that was the reason he laughed.
I growled a bit and sighed, sitting back on the couch and crossing my arms. Then I looked around, to check how the kids were doing.
Well, they seemed to be fine. Alejo, Matteo and Luisa sat in the living room as well, and all three of them had finally stopped shouting, crying and hurting themselves. Now Luisa was quietly reading a picture book, Alejo played yet another violent game on his game console and Matteo – completely covered with all kinds of band aids (man, we loved band aids) – was having a serious discussion with Mia, probably about the fact that she had stung him, again.
'…wonderful thing! You are so lucky, being able to have a family like this with the person you love,' I suddenly happened to catch a part of Lovino's conversation with Dr. Hernández.
Lovino smiled a bit, but it wasn't a real one – and that surprised me, since Lovi most of the time didn't bother to smile at all if he didn't feel like smiling for real.
'Oh, well. I guess we're lucky, yes. We still don't mind hanging out with each other and now that we have kids, our relationship seems to have only become stronger. I like that.'
Still that fake smile. Also, another glance in my direction – as if he was preparing an attack and wanted to make sure I was there to back him up, if that was needed.
Oh.
Ohhhh!
Now I got it. I'd recognize that scheming grin of his anywhere. He was going to sneakily question the doctor about the PPSS without making the doc suspicious, wasn't he? Using his Super Italian Mafia-skills, or something like that.
…
That… was so cool! You're so cool, Lovi!~
'By the way, Dr. Hernández,' Lovino slowly said, his voice low and dangerous, 'since you're going to follow in your bastard grandpa's footsteps, do you happen to know anything about that creepy PPSS organization?'
Then Lovi looked at me again, grinned broadly and gave me a thumbs-up.
…
Oh, Lovi.
You're as subtle as a megatruck.
But, well, maybe this super-direct approach was the right approach – you never know.
Unfortunately, Dr. Hernández' confused expression told us he had no idea what we were talking about.
'PPSS? I'm sorry, Mr. Romano, but… what's PPSS? A disease?'
Lovino frowned, disappointed by this lame result. 'Didn't your grandfather or anybody tell you about the PPSS? Shouldn't you know anything about this organization, as Antonio's next personal doctor?'
'Ah, well, technically, I'm still some sort of intern, you know, so I don't know all about you or this organization you're speaking of yet.' Dr. Hernández smiled apologetically. 'Actually, I thought that knowing you are personifications was the biggest mystery! But apparently, I was wrong. They still don't trust me enough to tell me about all the things I need to know as your partner's doctor. Ah, that's too bad.'
'Oh, okay.' Now that he knew the young doctor couldn't provide him with any useful information, Lovino instantly lost all of his interest in the doctor and plopped down next to him as soon as he finished tending his wound. He even grabbed the newspaper from the coffee table and started reading.
'I-I'm sorry.' Dr. Hernández shot Lovi's newspaper a nervous smile. 'I seem to have let you down, one way of another. I apologize for that.'
Lovi just snorted.
'Well, anyway!' I hastily said, successfully capturing the unsure doctor's attention. 'Um, when do you think you can… um, possibly remove the sutures on the back of Lovino's head?'
Lovi now shuddered, but I ignored it.
He widened his brown orbs. 'Oh, right! Right, that's why I came by, of course! Well, I can take a look now, if that's okay with Mr. Romano… maybe I can remove them if the wound's healed well enough. I've got everything I need to do that with me, after all.'
Lovino almost tore the newspaper apart from internal stress, no doubt, but he still turned his back to the doctor – not saying a word, but at least willing to comply.
'Alright,' the doctor said, relieved, and leant closer to look at Lovi's head. 'Now let's see what we have here…'
/0o0\
Lovino's wound wasn't infected or irritated, and his head was recovering from the cut just fine, so the doctor could remove the sutures – which he did, in the kitchen. Lovino didn't want the kids to see it happening, and besides, there was more light in the kitchen. I had to come with him – and he didn't take no for an answer, I needed to come with him or he was going to "fucking divorce" my "ass" to "kingdom come".
…
Well, since the kids seemed to be under control for now, and because it would be pretty horrible to get divorced just because I didn't want to hold Lovi's hand as his sutures were taken out, I decided to obediently follow them to the kitchen.
I won't describe how terrified Lovino's face looked like as Dr. Hernández did his thing – or the incredible lame stories the man kept telling us while removing the stitches, like 'have I ever told you about Mrs. Sanchez, whose entire family has always been very good ballet-dancers even though they had extremely frail bodies that counted more scars and imperfections than any other human body I had ever seen' – but even Lovino had to admit, as we were all having some tea and coffee afterwards, that it hadn't been that bad.
Now that I think about it, the doctor was probably telling such long, nonsensical stories to distract Lovi from the pain.
Which instantly made him a nice guy in my and Lovi's eyes.
'At least you're kinder than your grandfather,' Lovino pointed out, carefully touching the sensitive area on the back of his head as I poured him some tea. 'That old coot was having the time of his life when he was sticking pointy crap into my scalp, dammit.'
Dr. Hernández, who apparently thought we were pretty friendly and had decided to stay a spell, enclosed his hands around his cup of coffee and looked troubled.
'My grandfather… did he cause you a lot of problems?'
'Well, um… actually, yes.' I hesitated, but not for long. 'I was going to fire him, to be completely honest with you. He always picks fights with Lovino and he blames him for my homosexuality. He's always pretty nice to me, though – but I can't stand his mean behavior towards Lovino anymore. Now that we have kids, it's like he has become even more hateful.'
'Well, that does sound awfully familiar.' Dr. Hernández smiled weakly and took a sip of coffee. 'My grandfather also instantly blamed my then-boyfriend when I told him I had fallen in love with a man, back in the day I was still a teen. We got into a terrible fight and he told me he didn't want to see me ever again if I didn't become "normal".'
'You haven't spoken with him ever since?' Lovino asked.
'Well, yes…' The doctor squinted his eyes, as if he tried to remember something. '…I think it was after he got appointed to work as your personal doctor, which was… ten, twelve years ago? Yes, probably. Anyway, he finally contacted me last year, telling me he "had seen enough gay men to be able to communicate with them", and apparently, he meant to say with those words that he had forgiven me for being gay, and that he wanted to see me. So we picked things up where we left off back then and we even managed to get a fairy normal grandpa-grandkid relationship. It was nice.'
'Really?' I furrowed my brows. 'You forgave him that easily?'
Dr. Hernández nodded. 'Mr. Spain, I… I don't have any more family members left. My mother died a few days after giving birth to me. My father had always worked a lot to be sure I could get into an expressive foreign university – but he didn't survive a train crash, which made me an orphan at the age of 15. My grandmother died before I even was born. Plus, I don't have any siblings, aunts, uncles or cousins. It was pretty lonely, growing up. Nowadays, I only have my grandfather. Well, had.'
'Had?'
'Had, yes – three weeks ago, I finally gathered enough courage to tell him I was going to get married to Stefano, a man I met in Italy when I was studying there – by the way, I've studied in Italy ever since I was an adolescent! It's a wonderful country!~'
'So when you started to live in Italy, about, well, fifteen years ago, you got… boyfriends for the first time,' Lovino said.
'Yes.'
'Italian boyfriends.'
'Yes!~' The doctor was all smiles again, while Lovi shook his head in shock. 'My fiancé is an Italian, too, Mr. Romano! His name's Stefano! He's such a cute man… he's the most adorable guy I have ever met!~ I might have a picture of him… wait a minu—ah! Here it is!~'
Dr. Hernández turned the picture he kept in his jacket's breast pocket around and proudly showed the image to us.
On the picture, an overjoyed Dr. Hernández was standing in front of a garage, surrounded by tires, metal, tin bins, cars and hills of trash, holding hands with…
With…
…
My god, was that a giant?
'He was so shy, he actually didn't want to be on this picture at all, but then I said, "aw, Stefanito, pleeaaaasseeeee? For meeeee?~" and then he got all red and embarrassed and he grumbled "alright then dammit, fucking ass-kisser" and there you go!~'
'Give me THAT,' Lovino said, snatching the picture and staring at it as the blood in his face started to grow hotter again.
But it was true, I had seen the man as well – Stefano was a huge, burly, manly man with a killer mustache and biceps that would put many men's arms to shame. He was about two heads taller than Dr. Hernández and, in all honesty, he looked like he was a huge criminal that could break your neck by simply looking at it.
'He can't be Italian,' Lovino murmured, 'he just can't.'
'He is, he is!~ He's an auto mechanic, born on Sicily – he has had a tough life. I met him when I was lost during a visit to Rome and I asked him in my best Italian for directions. He was so surprised, he thought I would be scared of him – can you believe it? He might look a bit rough and act gruff, but he has the biggest heart of all. He's such a sweetheart!~'
Dr. Hernández chuckled, still charmed by their first meeting, and swayed back and forth in delight.
'He,' Lovino said once again, 'can't be Italian.'
'Anyway, I'm happy you found the love of your life…' I decidedly said, grabbing the picture and handing it over to the doctor again, before Lovino could get more agitated about it, '…but I guess Guillermo wasn't too happy when you told him you were going to get married, right? Is that the reason why you're, yet again, not talking to him anymore?'
'Actually, no. Grandpa didn't like the fact I was going to get married, but he still seemed to be fairly cool with it. I guess he really had gotten used to gay people.' Dr. Hernández looked at the picture, smiled and put it away.
'Then what was…?' I wanted to ask.
'We also want to adopt children, you know?' The doctor's smile faltered. 'Stefano and I… we'd love to adopt kids and have a family, just like you two have managed to get. It's hard, however. The Spanish adopting system isn't easy. But it's supposedly easier to adopt children when you're married. Oh, but I digress – anyway, when I told grandfather that Stefano and I were planning to adopt kids as soon as we are married, he… well, he just stopped talking on the phone and he hung up.'
My mouth fell open. 'Really? You had finally managed to patch things up, and he just… ended it again like that?'
Dr. Hernández nodded, rubbing his arm. 'It's bizarre, isn't it? I thought… I really thought he wanted to have a decent bond with me again. He had even met Stefano, and he liked him – the way Stefano kept snapping at grandpa seemed to do the trick – so… I don't understand. And things got even more confusing when the authorities told me he insisted I was going to visit you in his place, so I just don't get it anymo…'
He got quiet when Matteo came walking into the kitchen, carrying a piece of paper.