I don't own Hetalia
Chapter 2: "the friendship blooms"
From the day Cata and Romano met, they had developed an inseparable bond with each other. They became church buddies and really good friends. They had gone to church every Sunday. Romano have to admit, the first few times were kind of awkward, but they had gotten used to it over time. Romano could remember when he introduced her to his parents. It was summer, and he had invited Cata over to his house one Sunday after church. When church was finished, Romano heard Cata's stomach growling, and she said "oops, I guess I'm a bit hungry."
"My-a parents are-a making something at-a my house, eh. I-a was just-a wondering if-a you wanted-a to come over, eh?" He asked her, seeing that she was actually holding her stomach down. They had gone to church alone a couple of times now and Cata's home was actually pretty hard to get to since it was up in the mountains. Cata had to think about the offer Romano had given her for a while, so there was a moment of silence until she said "you know what? I'd love to go, Lovi." So they walked over to Romano's house and he knocked on the door. Bella opened it, and she said "there you are, Romano…" She stopped for a second, and looked over at Cata. She recognized her from the day they met.
"Yeah, eh. Mamma, I-a want-a you to meet Catarina Castillet. She's-a the girl who sat in front of us at-a the church that-a one time." Romano said "Cata, this is-a my-a mamma, Bella." Bella just put her catlike smile and she said "it's nice to meet you, sweetie. I saw you at that celebration we went to."
"Is nice to meet you too, auntie Bella." Cata said, she had a strong accent that sounded close to Toni's, but it was a little bit different at the same time. Cata continued to say "yeah, I know… That was the most fun I've had. Lovi showed me around his homeland after that, and it was so beautiful …" Cata was cut off when her stomach started growing again. Bella noticed that cata was a little hungry and said, "would you like a Belgian waffle?" Cata looked at Romano in confusion, and it Romano remembered something… Cata had never tried waffles before, and it made Romano say "mamma, she-a doesn't know what-a that is. She-a is from-a an isolated place, eh."
"Oh, well then. I can show you how I make them. Come in…" Bella said, letting them into the house. Romano, Catarina, and Bella all went to the kitchen and Cata pulled a chair out for all 3 of them. Bella showed both of them how to make Belgian waffles, and Cata said "They look so good, you guys know what kind of dessert my big brother, Ferdinand (Aragon) makes sometimes that I love?"
"What's-a that, Cata?" Romano asked, looking at Cata. He was still very curious about her because they only met a couple months ago, Romano thought he didn't have a crush on her, but he was wrong. She looked back at Romano, and said in a cheerful voice "CHURROS, XD." (I can see Andorra loving Churros too, and I would think her family made them for her once in awhile). Romano looked at her in shock, "I-a love Churros too. I-a help my-a dad make-a then all the time-a." Romano said "speaking of-a the jerk, where is-a he, eh?"
"Oh, Antonio is outside in the tomato garden." Bella said, doing the waffles, and putting them in a pan that had the squares that waffles usually have. Romano saw his mom blush when she mentioned the jerk's name, but Romano didn't say anything. She always acted funny when it comes to his dad. Romano didn't know, but he thought it was because she loves him. The same thing goes for him. Cata looked at Romano, and she said "mm, tomates. My family loves to eat them, too."
"Did-a you just-a say tomatoes in-a Spanish?" Romano said, looking at Cata in disbelief. He couldn't believe it, she knew Spanish. She said "yeah, I know how to speak 5 languages: Catalan, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English."
"Wow, that's-a something, eh. I-a only know-a how to speak italiano, and-a a little bit of-a Spanish, eh." Romano said, putting his head down. Catarina outsmarted him, 5:1. Romano was actually pretty amazed at how many languages she knew, and he was actually thinking about teaching her his language some day. Romano continued to say "The only thing I-a know how to say in-a Spanish is "bésame" and "mala chica", but that-a only got-a me in-a to trouble, eh."
"Yeah, he used "bésame" on Bella. It was hilarious, and then he turned looked like a little tomato." Romano suddenly felt someone ruffle his hair "get your-a hands off me you jerk!" He yelled, looking up at his dad. Romano knew it was Toni because of his weird Spanglish accent again. Romano looked over to Cata, who was giggling, but then stopped when she saw him, and said "sorry for laughing, Lovi. I just thought the way you got mad at him was so cute."
"Hey, Romano. You never told us you have a girlfriend. Hey, is that the girl you've been going to church with every Sunday. " Toni said, putting the basket of tomatoes he had in his hands on the table. Romano hated when Toni did that. Every time Romano would do his thing, Toni would tease him about having a girlfriend. It drove him crazy. He yelled "shut your-a face, jerk! She's-a not my-a girlfriend! We just-a met! Her name is Catarina." Romano turned to Cata and I said "yeah, eh. This is-a my dad, Antonio Fernandez-Carriedo. He is-a the self-a proclaimed "boss Spain"."
"Si, me llamo Catarina de Castillet. Representó a la Principalidad de Andorra, y es un placer conocerte "tío Toño". Está bien si te digo así?" Cata said, in a fluent Spanish accent (English: yeah, my name is Catarina de Castellet. I represent the Principality of Andorra, and it's a pleasure to meet you "uncle Toni". Is it okay if I call you that?). She wasn't joking when she said she knew Spanish, and she was good at it, eh. Toni was shocked too, but then he put a smile on his face and said "has aprendido muy bien el Español, Cata. Quizás podrías enseñarle algunas palabras a Romano. El no sabe nada de Español. Andorra?... Yo ya sé quién eres, la hermana de Cataluña y Aragón, cierto? La que vive en las montañas de los Pirineos? Claro que sí puedes decirme eso." (English: you learned very good Spanish, Cata. Perhaps you could teach Romano a couple words, XD. He doesn't know Spanish. Andorra? … I already know who you are, Catalonia and Aragon's little sister, right? The one who lives in the Pyrenees mountains? Sure, you can call me that.)
"Hey, what-a the hell is-a goin on here? You guys-a know each other?" Romano stammered, they were talking in Spanish, so he didn't know what was going on. Romano could understand a little bit of it, but couldn't speak it, so he was frustrated. Cata said "oh, is just that my family wants to become independent from him, but he won't let us. I'm part of the Spanish March family. I think I told you that my big sister is Alt Urgell (The County of Urgell), and my other siblings are the kingdom of Aragon, Catalonia, Leon, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands. Recently though, Castile's boss, Queen Isabella I and my brother, Aragon's boss, King Ferdinand II decided to get married and unite the country. Now their daughter, Joanna took over and we lost the freedom to speak Catalan. My sister got real mad and she wants to split. Everyone pays more attention to her, and they forget about the little speck in the Pyrenees, in between France and Spain." Putting her head down. Romano thought that story seemed to be a sad, but relatable one. Romano met queen Joanna, and called her "mala chica" . He ended up getting into trouble after that, and it wasn't fun. that cheese eating bum is in this too? (True fact: Aragon and Castile were united by King Ferdinand ii and queen Isabella i, and they united Spain. Spain and Catalonia have been united since that day, but Catalonia lost the right to speak in their own language. Today Catalonia is still striving for independence, but Spain doesn't want to let her go, I think it's because he's on the brink of collapse.
Another true fact: Catalonia is the centre of attention in the Spanish March, just like Italy is in the Vargas family. So Romano and Cata have that in common too. Before she opened her door to the world, even now Andorra is forgotten to some degree. I tell my friends about Cata's homeland, and they have no idea what/where that is. I guess RomaNdorra was a "match made in heaven" because Romano was/is kinda forgotten too (because of the Early and Italian Renaissance happening in north Italy) NOTE: Romano and Cata are part of two different families (Tomato and Spanish March) that are part of the same family).
"Cata, it's-a ok, eh. I-a know how you feel." Romano said, putting his arm around her shoulder and making her lean on him. She looked at him in shock, and she said, "you do?" Cata didn't have anyone besides Romano that she could trust, so she was shocked that the only person she hung out with had something in common with her. Romano said in a reassuring tone of voice "yeah. I-a have a sister who I-a was separated from yet again who's-a more popular than I-a am, eh. Everyone pays-a more attention to my-a sister more than they do to me, and that's-a because she-a actually lived with-a my grandpa, Rome, eh. People mostly forget about-eh me too in a way because I-a can't draw, paint, clean, or anything that-a she can do. Plus she is-a in-a another world literally. She's-a in love with a potato eating bastardo named the Holy Roman Empire! He's-a all she cares about in the world! She doesn't give a damn about her own family!" It was true, she never cares about her siblings, Seborga and Romano. "I-a would rather have my-a younger brother, Sebastian replace Feliciana, eh. I-a actually get along with him better than her. Did-a you say that-a you live next to France?" Romano asked, concerned about that. He actually was a little concerned about what it was like for her to live near that guy who chased him around every day trying to "invade" me. Spain fought him 4 times for it. (True Fact: Spain and France did fight for Romano (Spain protected his son from France I should say)
"Thanks for understanding me, Lovi. Yeah, everything centres around her in the Spanish March. I just hate being so isolated, and I think it sucks because well the only person I have is you. I mean you asked me, a total stranger if I wanted to hang out with you. That's something only a good person would do." Catarina said, hiding something in her hand that Romano couldn't make out what it was. (Authors note: her locket that her biological father had given her when he granted her independence, and left her under her sister's care She didn't want to lose her only friend right there). Just then Bella put the plate of waffles on the table, and Toni made a tomato and lettuce salad. As soon as they finished the salad, which Cata seemed to love. They got to the good stuff. Romano always loved Bella's waffles, and he couldn't forget the day he tried them for the first time. Cata picked one up with her fork, and put it on her plate. She cut the waffle in pieces and put one in her mouth. Romano saw Cata perk up, as she said in a cheerful voice "I love it:3. They're actually really good."
"I-a knew it, eh. I-a knew you were-a going to love the waffles!" Romano exclaimed in a happy tone. Romano looked over at his parents to see their faces, Bella said in her Belgian accent "I'm glad you like it, sweetie."
"Like it… I love it, thank you so much, auntie Bella!" She said, getting off of her chair. Romano saw Cata go to where Bella was, and she hugged her. It was like she was made to be part of the family in some strange way. Bella was shocked at first because she barely knew who Cata was. Cata was a little less clingy than the tomato jerk. Bella hugged her back and said "you're welcome, sweetie."
"Hey, Cata. Puedes empezar a salir con Roma si quieres, te doy el permiso." Toni said (English: Hey, Cata. You can start hanging out with Roma if you want to. I give you permission to do it, ok.) teasingly, while eating his waffles. Romano just gave him the death glare and he yelled out of annoyance "we-a are already going-a to church together! What-a more do you-a want!"
"Calm down, Romano. You know it would be easier if you were nicer. I'm just saying that you two should do more stuff together, other than going to church on Sunday." Toni said starting to wash the dishes. Maybe he had a good point about that, maybe Romano could do something with Cata one of those days, since they lived somewhat close. Romano turned to Cata and said "Cata, you want-a to hang out with me other than-a on the weekend, eh?"
"I don't see why not. Sure, Lovi. I'd love to." She said, passing the plates to Toni. That was the first and last time Romano listen to him. Toni picked up the plates from Cata's hand, and he said in his cheery Spanish voice "gracias, Catarina."
"De nada, tío Toño." She said, also cheerful. I have to admit that this is the first time in ages that I've been happy in forever. After that, my parents, Cata, and I hung out all day until I went to drop her off at her home.
Well, title says it all, XD. Romano and Catarina grew closer after this one visit Cata made to Toni's house.