A/N: I forgot to mention this earlier, but everybody thank my friend Miriam (who acts as a sort-of beta reader for my stories) for coming up with this title! For the longest time, I just called it "the summer Spamano fic." Actually, she suggested "World Wide Story" too. I kind of really hate making up titles. So mine are always lame, or a quote pulled off from somewhere within the story.
ALSO THANK GOD IT'S READING WEEK. I still have to go to the Playhouse for tech work and have four essays to get started on, but at least now I have time for a regular sleeping schedule and to cook substantial meals!
Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.
Lovina woke up feeling incredibly relaxed. More so than she'd felt in a very long time. Opening her eyes, she squirmed over onto her back. Antonio was still snoring quietly, one arm slung across her waist. She lifted it to check his watch.
4:47 PM.
"Hey! Assface!" Lovina shoved Antonio awake. "We slept for almost two hours, you dumb bastard!"
He sat up groggily. "Huh? Oh, wow. That's funny. I'm usually not this tired."
Lovina hopped off the hammock impatiently. "It took us forever to get here, so let's go back. Now. I wanna shower. It's all dirty here."
He laughed. "You're on a farm, Lovi, of course you're going to get a little dirt on you!"
She just stood there glaring at him, hands on hips, until he finally obeyed and put away the hammock. Getting back to the house took even longer than before, as Lovina was not thrilled at the prospect of hiking uphill on a dirt path. When they finally emerged from the grassy stretch of field that separated the woods from the house, the sight of a truck pulling into the driveway greeted them.
"Oh! I almost forgot that some stuff was being delivered today. Good thing we came back at the right time, eh?" Antonio quickly brushed the dirt off his jeans. "You go back inside, Lovi. I'll see you really soon, okay?"
Only he would have interpreted that withering stare as willing agreement. As Antonio trotted towards the driver, waving excitedly, Lovina marched back towards the house.
In doing so, she passed the barn, its towering height casting a long shadow upon the ground. Lovina paid little attention to the misshapen objects lined up against its side. Most of it was covered by a dirty old tarp, anyway. She was almost past the entire building before she halted to turn back.
Leaning pitifully near the door, was an ancient, silvery-blue vespa. Lovina loved vespas. When her family had taken a vacation in Italy a few years back, she couldn't help but stop and stare at all the people zooming about on the scooters. Women in sunglasses, the bottoms of dresses twitching upwards as a tiny cloud of dust puttered out behind them, men in their business suits, ties comically fluttering in the breeze of their movements. She'd begged her mother to let her get one, but apparently, nine year olds were not allowed to drive vespas.
"Lovi!" Antonio came ambling up to her, smiles bright as the sun, or brighter, as it had began sinking lower in the sky. "That took way faster than I thought. Whatcha got there?"
She didn't say anything, still running one finger down the wide, front wind guard of the scooter.
"Oh hey, that was Tia Lucia's, before she had her babies. Super old. I think I was like, five when she still used it." Antonio touched the handlebars too. "They found it just shortly before I came down. We tried it and it still works, just a little shakily..."
"Teach me."
He tilted his head to one side questioningly. "How to ride it?"
"No, how to eat it. GOD! Of course I wanna ride it! Did you even have to clarify?"
Antonio grinned and wheeled the scooter away from the wall. "Okay! That's cool. We can do that!" He threw one leg over the seat.
"…I want to drive it, not you."
"Of course. I get it, Lovi." He patted the space in front of him. "I'm not going to let you do it by yourself."
"What? Why!" She scowled. "I want to drive it!"
"You will, just not now. I won't let you get hurt. Come on."
After some muttering that indistinctly resembled, "stupid fucking overprotective idiot ugh," Lovina begrudgingly got onto the seat. Antonio rested his chin on her shoulder.
"Ok, the fuel tap is already open, so put the clutch into neutral." He guided her hand to the lever. "That line there."
"Now, turn the ignition on." Lovina obediently turned the key in its lock. "Good, Lovi! The right handlebar's the throttle, so pull it back…"
Antonio was pretty much just doing everything for her, his hand over hers, but she wasn't complaining. She couldn't go wrong if he was helping her, right? Two pairs of arms outstretched, one supporting the other, ready to bring this battered old scooter to life.
"There's a kickstarter near your right foot. Press down on it."
"Your foot's in the way, idiot!" But she was able to aim an awkward kick, the bottom of her sneaker striking a tiny metal pedal. The vespa coughed a few times before settling onto a steady, soft grumble.
"Great! Okay, now we move the clutch into first gear, and….yeah, you got it!"
The vespa trembled forwards beneath the two teenagers. Lovina had been so concentrated on following directions that she'd forgotten what exactly she'd set out to do. She squeaked with surprise at her success.
Lovina could feel the vibrations of Antonio's laugh from leaning back against his chest. "Hey, don't freak out! That wasn't too bad, right?"
"Tha…that wasn't me! It was a squirrel! Bastard."
Never mind that the closest tree was about five metres away.
As the vespa inched around the open space, Lovina became more confident behind the handlebars. Antonio even chanced letting go of her hands to wrap his arms around her waist, cuddling close to her. As the sun drooped closer to the tree tops, Lovina had mustered enough courage to go to the next step.
Antonio's eyes flew open in shock when the vespa switched gears and surged forwards like a comet.
"That's more fucking like it!"
"Wait, Lovi! I don't think you should go too fast ye-" Her hair flew back to whip him in the face. Antonio tried to reach for the handlebars, but ended up losing his balance.
Lovina's skin prickled with alarm when Antonio's reassuring weight suddenly disappeared from behind her. Sneaking a peek backwards, she saw her boyfriend in a surprised pile on the ground, blinking in the dust of the exhaust. Her heart did another spectacular display of panic-induced somersaults.
"HOLY SHIT! What do I do? How do I stop?" Without waiting for an answer, she simply let go of the handlebars, pushing her left foot down hard.
Bad idea. The vespa abruptly halted, and her lack of secure grips caused her to also topple off the seat. But this time, bringing the ancient metal scooter down with her with a great crash.
"LOVI!"
She'd just barely begun to register the throbbing pain of what would definitely turn into a bruise on her shin when Antonio shoved the vespa off of her.
"Oh my GOD…Lovi, I'm so sorry, don't be hurt badly, please…"
"I'm fine! Geez, I'm not made of glass!" Lovina felt a pang of guilt pass through her chest when she looked at his terror-stricken face. "No seriously, I'm alright."
Antonio brushed away the damp, sweaty hair away from her face. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. Stop treating me like a hopeless baby!"
The corners of his mouth stubbornly stayed downwards. "But I promised your family I'd take care of you! And you got hurt...I'm the worst boyfriend ever…"
Lovina paused in struggling to her feet to execute a perfect facepalm. "Ugh…bastard. It was…it was my fault, dumbass. Stop beating yourself up over it. I'm not going to die from falling over."
Antonio stayed where he was, kneeling on the ground. "But, but Lovi -"
"Would you turn that damn thing OFF already?" She irritably jabbed a finger at the still-humming vespa. He obediently complied.
"Can you walk back to the house okay?"
"Yeah, yeah." Lovina glanced down at her legs. Honestly, the thing had been on top of her for a grand total of perhaps ten seconds. He worried too much. She turned to begin walking, but as she lifted her left leg, the rest of her body came off the ground as well.
"…THE HELL?"
"I'm not going to take any chances!" Antonio readjusted Lovina's weight in his arms. "You're not going to get hurt anymore, I promise."
"….my GOD, you're so dense!" He winced as she yelled into his ear. "I'm perfectly fine, you ass! This is embarrassing, put me down!"
"Nobody else is even here, so I can say no!"
"You're an idiot!"
"You're too careless!"
"Stupid bastard."
"Silly Lovi."
They continued exchanging retorts until they reached the front door. Lovina refused to be carried inside, so she squirmed until he finally put her down.
"Okay, so you wash up and then go straight back to the kitchen."
"You're not the boss of me."
"Today, I am." He smirked down at her blushing face. "See you in half an hour." With that, he kissed her forehead and left to attend to chores.
Lovina didn't go inside, but watched his figure cross the field, disappearing into the barn. The sun was definitely nestled in the forest's crown of leaves by now, making long, grey shadows slide over the earth. Lovina looked all around her at the beautiful sight one last time before heading inside. She was welcome here. She was content.
A/N: Vespas are adorable. I'd love one even though I've sworn (unless I have absolutely no choice) to never learn to drive. That being said, I just typed "how to drive a vespa" into Google, so I can only hope to Heaven that I got it right. Do not try to drive a vespa using this fanfic for directions. Also, why is this couple so accident prone? Especially Antonio, I'm kind of mean to him that way…
By the way, the stories I post up in this World Wide Story universe are going to be time-hopping all over the place, especially within the year that WWS takes place in. As in, the January-December year. There will be quite a few summertime fics. None of them will be as long as WWS, though some will definitely have multiple chapters. Mostly in the 2-3 chapter range, I think. One will be fairly long and is currently planned for 10 chapters. That's all I'm saying, though! Just be on the lookout for more! C: