A/N: Yay! I've converted people! I'm glad that the adorableness was enough. Thanks reviewers! I'll just quickly disclaim, and let you guys read.
P.S. Does anyone remember that little reward I had for the 15th reviewer? Would that person step up for their prize? If you don't want it, it goes to the 16th, and so on.
Getting to Lovina: A Story of Hetalia Academy
Chapter 8: Whatever You Call Love, pt 2
Mari Hallsonar-Bondevik snorted in indignation as she watched her stepsister being carried by Anders Densen. She had no idea whatsoever why her sister was dating the immature idiot who acted like an underfed dog. Hopefully, Nora would soon see the error of her ways and dump the maddening Dane. In all reality though, Mari seriously doubted it. Nora might deny that she cared for Anders, but everyone knew she would die if they broke up.
Shaking her head in disgust at the scene (and in knowing that he would probably be her future brother-in-law), Mari decided to redirect her attention to the other pair of Nordics attending their school. Steadying her perch on the tree branch, she dug her video camera out of her shoulder bag and started taping Tino and Berwald.
"Su-Su-san! What is that?"
"Fl'w'rs f'r m'w'fe."
"I'm a boy!"
"B't y'r st'll m'w'fe. 'r 't le'st y'w'll be."
"Su-san!"
"S'rry, T'no. D'ya l'ke th' fl'w'rs?"
"Thank you, Su-san! Here's something we can eat. Do you want to just eat lunch here?"
"'F c'rse. 'nyth'ng f'r m'wfe."
"Su-san! Eeeeeep! Why are you looking at me like that?"
"S'rry. Th' f'od's n'ce."
"That's good."
Mari chuckled as she continued to film the various adorable little gestures Berwald and Tino made towards each other. She was going to earn a fortune from Elizaveta for this video. There were so many possibilities as to the ways she could spend it. She would finally get the latest puffin figurine she had seen in the store the other day. While she was at it, she could even get a rifle to ward Anders off with. Perhaps Tino would give her lessons.
As she continued her afternoon spying activities from her trusty treetop branches, Mari was infinitely glad for her single status. Between getting footage of Tino and Berwald to chaperoning Nora and Anders, she had plenty to do. She also had a good bit of money to earn as well.
In a different corner of the school, Sakura Honda was filming Feli and Ludwig on their romantic afternoon picnic. Or as romantic as it would be with a stiff German and a dense Italian. Sakura was trying very hard to suppress giggles at Ludwig's awkwardness with handling Feliciana still. They were adorable to watch and even more enjoyable to film.
Sakura debated with herself on whether or not to share the footage with Elizaveta. After all, she could sell it to the Hungarian and make a very tidy sum out of the deal; however, she lacked a present for her friend's birthday, and she could most definitely use this as something to give.
The petite Japanese girl was mentally arguing with herself so intently that she was nearly startled by a gentle hand on her shoulder. Speedily setting her camera down, she turned around to face a tall handsome boy with emerald green eyes and unruly brown hair. She tilted her head slightly, as if to inquire the reason of his presence.
"Hello, Heracles-kun. What brings you here?"
The Greek boy blinked sleepily. Rubbing his eyes with his left hand, he blushed slightly.
"I was wondering if you wanted to visit the pet shop in town with me. I heard that one of their cats had a new brood of kittens, and the owner says we're welcome to go and help out."
"Of course, Heracles-kun. I am very glad that you gave this offer. It was very kind of you."
Without another word, Sakura packed up her belongings and followed Heracles to the main office. Once they were off-campus, Heracles took one look at the sky and frowned.
"Is something wrong, Heracles-kun?"
"It seems like it might rain," he replied, looking away.
"Ah. Should we hurry to the shop? I do not believe either one of us has an umbrella."
"Yeah."
Unluckily for the couple, the downpour began even before they were near the shop. Even worse, they were also too far from the school to turn back in time. Without any other choice, they sprinted for the pet shop.
Once inside, Heracles quickly stuffed his hair inside a white cap. Sakura thought it strange, but decided not to comment yet. Before either one of them could say anything to the other, a kindly, plump lady approached them.
"Heracles! Hello! Who's your friend?"
"Hello, Athene. This is Sakura. Sakura, this is my aunt."
The lady in question snorted. "We're cousins. Don't make me sound so old."
She looked a great deal like the Greek boy, seeing as they had the same curly brown hair and calm green eyes. Interestingly, she was a head shorter than Heracles and only a few inches taller than Sakura. The small Asian girl took note of this and inclined her head politely.
"Hello, Athene-san. It is nice to meet you."
The corners of Athene's eyes crinkled pleasantly at the sight of the girl.
"It's very nice to meet you too. I've heard quite a bit about you."
Sakura looked to Heracles in confusion, but he was giving Athene a pointed look. The short woman raised her hands in surrender. With a shrug, she directed them towards the kitties and left them alone.
"What did your cousin mean?" inquired Sakura shyly as they petted the furry little creatures.
"Oh, nothing. Athene likes to embarrass me in front of friends."
"I see."
They sat in silence for a while. Sakura glanced at Heracles, wondering about his hat. Finally, she decided that it wouldn't hurt to be more straightforward than she usually was with the Greek boy.
"Why did you put your hair in a cap once we got in, Heracles-kun?" she questioned softly, stroking a kitten under its chin.
Heracles kept his gaze down, not answering the question. Just as Sakura thought that she should apologize, he spoke up.
"My hair tends to frizz up in embarrassing ways when it gets wet."
Timidly, she leaned closer and took off his cap. He continued to look down, not wanting to look into her pristine brown eyes.
"I do not see anything wrong with your hair."
He looked up, expecting to see a strained expression upon her face. Instead, he found himself face to face with one of Sakura's rare smiles. He could not help but smile back.
"You would be the first."
Lovina was enraged. First, she
had to endure Emma squealing over how cute Elizaveta and Roderich looked on their Valentine's Day date; when it was interrupted by Gilbert trying to give Elizaveta daisies, Lovina then had to endure the hyper girl's ranting. Then, she was dragged by the shrieking Belgian to the spot where Allison F. Jones and Arthur Kirkland were being more than extremely intimate with each other. As if that hadn't been enough, Emma decided to spy on Feliciana and Ludwig as they ate cake together. Finally, it had started to rain, of all things.
"Is it even legal for you to be this happy?" she grunted as the two of them hid from the rain under the awning of one of the buildings.
"Yes! Of course it is! It is THE day for absolute adorableness and loveliness. How can I not be happy?"
Just as Lovina was about to open her mouth to spew obscenities at Emma, the blonde girl decided to drag her to the other side of the building just because she had heard Vash Zwingli's voice.
"How can you even want to be near that gun-crazy bastard?" grumbled Lovina as they raced down the side of the building.
"I promised Lilli I'd keep her big brother away since she wants to spend the day in peace. My flirting skills are rusty and HE is the PERFECT subject."
And indeed, they did find Vash spewing out profanity in four different languages at a group of first years that included Lilli Zwingli. The moment the Swiss girl saw Emma, she made a gesture of desperation. Emma winked in reply then tapped the fuming Swiss boy on the shoulder.
"What?" he demanded, glaring at her.
"You seem to be rather lonely today."
"So?"
The moment Vash seemed to be completely engrossed in glowering at Emma, Lilli and her friends made their escape. Lovina stood awkwardly nearby, biting her lip to avoid screaming at the Belgian girl.
"Any reason why?"
"Why would it matter to you?"
Wait, was Vash blushing? Emma was grinning maniacally, and Lovina had a feeling that the two blondes would be heading off together in a few minutes. With one last glare, Lovina turned away from Emma. And indeed, the Italian's assumptions were right. Vash and Emma were seen by many astonished students to be walking together before and after dinner.
Leaving Emma and Vash, Lovina slowly wandered towards the music building. Her friends had told her the day before that it would be empty today of all people. Although Lovina was by no means an excellent musician, she was a decent dancer. Upon hearing the news of the vacancy of the building on this dreadful day, Lovina had made up her mind to spend it there in the dance studio. What harm could there be in her practicing if everyone was gone?
By the time Lovina was in the dark, silent building, she felt too tired to dance. She denied that she was too upset or jealous. After all, what was there to be jealous of? It wasn't as if she was the only fourth year alone today. Mari Hallssonar-Bondevik was single, and so was Toris Lorinaitis. And of course, Antonio, otherwise known as tomato bastard, was as well.
Just as Lovina was ready to give up the notion and simply go back to her dorm and sleep, the sound of guitar strumming caught her ear. Her curiosity was immediately aroused. Without meaning to, she began to walk towards the sound. Edging nearer and nearer, she found that it was actually an Italian love song, and a very, very nice voice was singing it along with the guitar. At this point, Lovina could no longer restrain herself. She silently opened the door of the lighted room and poked her head in.
"Amo amo
e' qualcosa che si muove
su' e giù per lo stomaco
piu' freddo della neve
Amo amo
e' un buco alla ciambella
la sua dolcezza effimera
la rende cosi' bella"
No. It couldn't be. Lovina kicked herself, and yet, her eyes were not mistaken. There he was, strumming a guitar and singing one of her favorite songs. Someone up there really wanted to play a joke on her.
Before she could escape, the bastard looked up and saw her head in the doorway. His fine emerald eyes lit up in a most cheerful smile.
"Lina! Come in!"
Now that he had seen her, there was no escape. Unwillingly, she dragged herself in and placed herself on one of the many chairs in the room. Antonio was still grinning merrily, strumming random chords on his guitar. Lovina huffed irritably and folded her arms over her chest.
"What the hell are you doing here, idiot?"
Antonio just shrugged and continued to strum happily.
"Shouldn't you be out breaking hearts or crap?"
"There's only one heart I'm out for, and I don't intend to break it."
Lovina rolled her eyes. "You're so cheesy."
He gave a noncommittal wave and gently put down his guitar. Putting his arms behind his head, he leaned back in his chair. The action should have looked extremely suave and cool, but unfortunately for the Spaniard, he leaned much too far back. He blinked in bewilderment, rubbing his head.
"¿Que? Why am I on the ground? No lo entiendo."
Lovina couldn't help it. Seeing the idiot sprawled on the ground from trying to pull a cool move was just too much. Without even pausing to think about it, she guffawed. Antonio frowned at her, but it didn't even register in her system. The hysterical Italian just continued to laugh her guts out.
"Lina? It's not very nice to laugh at someone who just fell on the ground."
"But-but-Ahhaha, you look so very stupid and funny from falling over! Ah-Hey! What the hell was that for, bastard?"
Antonio smiled innocently at Lovina, who was now sprawled on the floor next to him.
"I thought you would like to experience the feeling as well."
"You bastard!"
Before Lovina could even get to her feet, Antonio was out the door.
"Haha! Bet you can't catch me!"
Although Lovina hated to admit, Antonio had just improved her day infinitely.
Antonio wondered idly if Lovina would agree to eat spaghetti with him that evening.
All in all, Hetalia Academy managed to somehow survive the insanity that came with Valentine's Day. The teachers sighed and shook their heads, grateful that the building was still standing. The students were glad that most of the population had reached happy ending. And as for our main characters; well, let's just say they're a bit occupied with spaghetti right now.
A/N: So no, not too much Spamano action, but hey, it's a start. ^^ Anyone else a Giripan fan? And yes, I know, I made Iceland single and wrote some really, really bad SuFin. But I hope that over all, that was satisfying. The next chapter deals with the aftereffects. ^^
And the song Antonio was singing was "Una su un milone" by Alex Britti. I hope my Italian copy and paste wasn't wrong!
In addition, I hope my crappy third year Spanish wasn't too bad.
So, wow! Almost three consecutive speedy updates. But you know what that means. Yes, I need some time to reload and write up the next chapter, which will be a few weeks in the making. You're absolutely welcome to review during that time, and as you know, I LOVE reviews!
I have about seventeen chapters and an epilogue planned out. Any suggestions or challenges you would like to throw at me? I'm keeping this rated T, so nothing carnal or too violent. But I am willing to take on the first five challenges for this fic aimed at me. Anyone up for it?
P.S: Yes, I know Mari has a boy's Icelandic last name. It will be explained in the Nordic series that I'm planning to write.
EDIT: I almost forgot! This chapter is dedicated to the victims of the tragedy in Norway and the trainwreck in China! I named my Denmark long before the tragedy in Norway, so I was pretty shocked to see the horrible guy had the same name as Anders. R.I.P all lost people, and I wish the best to the survivors and the families who had to endure the loss of a loved one.