Entry #2

Theme: Looking for a flat in a metropolis

Type: One shot


With a new place, comes a new life. With a new apartment, Romano would try to make his place in the world away from his brother. In Italy he was always a part of his brother, always a shadow. Romano couldn't stand it anymore; he had to make an identity for himself. Back in Italy, no one knew who he was besides 'Feliciano's brother', or being the grump of the town. It was always Feli can paint, Feli can sing, Feli can do anything. He's so nice and sweet.

Even their Grandfather had favored Feliciano. What about Romano damn it?

No one had ever bothered to listen to Romano. No one had ever bothered to ask about Romano. No one knew that while Romano couldn't paint like his brother, he could write poetry, and that while Romano couldn't play an instrument, he could sing very well. Back in Italy, Romano had no friends, he was all by himself. The moment that Romano had saved enough, he had moved away, not bothering to tell his family where he was going.
Romano had decided that if he could go anywhere, he would go to Madrid in Spain. No other countries appealed to him besides that one, and it had wanted to get out of Italy. He had been planning this for weeks, and if everything went alright, then he would do well in Madrid.

His flight left around eleven at night. While everyone was sleeping, he grabbed what hadn't been packed away and climbed into his car. In Madrid he would travel by foot, but here he would travel by his car. At the airport he went through security and stepped onto his plane. It was cold on the plane, and there weren't very many people on there. Before the plane even took off, Romano had fallen asleep in his seat, the stress of running away and being on his own making him more exhausted than normal.

Romano woke up when the plane had landed. He had slept through the entire flight, not even waking up when the stewardess came over with food. When the plane landed Romano pulled out his cell phone, ignoring the texts and calls from his worried family, Romano called the man who had the apartment for him.

"Ciao. Do you have my apartment ready?" Romano said into his phone. There was a long pause on the other end, long enough to make Romano worry.

"Um…well you see about that…you hadn't called and so we gave your apartment away…"

"What? How could you do that?"

"Ya it was nice talking to you, sorry again!" The man said before hanging up on Romano. Romano started to curse under his breath.

He didn't have any money to rent hotel room for the night. Sure it was early morning, but Romano doubted that he would be able to find a place to stay before night fell. He would also have to call and tell the people with his stuff to wait until he found an actual place. Maybe they would have someone who knew of a good place. Romano walked out of the airport holding his luggage, walking in some random direction. He was too wrapped up in thoughts to think about where he was going. He could feel the hot Spanish sun baking into his auburn hair, how his backpack dug into his shoulders, and how his rolling suitcase handle was slipping in his sweaty grasp. Block after block went pass without notice, his rampaging thoughts not letting him think about anything other than where he was going to sleep in this strange city.

A door jingling open caught his attention, breaking him out of his thoughts. A bright voice cut through the air, but Romano didn't bother to make out the words. The name of the place caught his attention though.

Café Spain

"What a unique name…" Romano sarcastically thought to himself. His feet though started walking towards the door, eager for the rest after walking for who knows how many blocks.

"Welcome to Café Spain! What can I get for you?" It was the same bright voice that had cut through the air earlier. Romano raised his eyes to see a bright and cheery face staring down at him, looking ready to swallow him with that sun shiny smile.

"Um, just water I guess…" Romano said before he took a seat. He noticed that there was no one else in the café.

"Coming right up! I'm Antonio," he said before running into the back to get his water.

"Romano," he whispered, not expecting Antonio to hear him.

Antonio came back with a cup of water in hand, moving so klutzily that the water slushed around in the cup, spilling on the floor. Romano glared at him, feeling his old personality come back to the surface. Antonio didn't even notice the water on the floor.

"It's so good to have someone come here, I hardly ever get customers anymore with the economy being as it is," Antonio said all cheerfully, not even minding that Romano didn't even really seem to care.

"What's got you down?" Antonio suddenly asked, snapping Romano out of his thoughts.

"I'm fine."

"Really? Because I've been talking for ten minutes and you haven't said one thing nor have you touched your water," Antonio's words made Romano come back to reality, and he realized that Antonio was right.

"So tell boss what's wrong."

"I ran away from home to come here. I had everything worked out, and then the place that I was going to stay at gave my apartment away. I don't have the money to stay in a hotel, so I don't know what to do," Romano uncharacteristically spilled out before he could stop himself. He needed to talk to someone, and before he had run away he would always said these things to Feliciano. Yet now that Feliciano wasn't here with him he ended up saying it to a complete stranger.

"Don't worry! I have the perfect solution! You can come and stay with me in my apartment!"

"What? You don't even know me idiot!" Romano shouted. Antonio laughed and grabbed Romano's hand, making Romano blush.

"That doesn't matter! You seem like a great guy, plus you're cute," Antonio said as he began to close up his café. Romano blushed even harder.

"Stupid idiot…" Romano muttered under his breath.

Antonio closed up the shop, now even caring that it wasn't even past noon yet. Romano protested about getting dragged down the street like a child, but he couldn't escape from Antonio's grip. They walked down the street at a rapid pace, Romano complaining the entire way and Antonio laughing. Antonio was even nice enough to carry Romano's suitcase. After a couple more blocks, they reached Antonio's apartment.

"Welcome home. Don't worry about anything, just make yourself at home," Antonio said with a warm smile, looking at Romano to assure him.

Sure this hadn't turned out like Romano had thought that it would be, but maybe everything would turn out alright for Romano in the end.