Title: Beginning
Pairing/Characters: Antonia and Romano
Note: This is set like crazy before Six in One. Antonia is 13, Romano is 12.


"Who're you waving at, Toñi?"

"New neighbours, Mamá." Antonia gestured out the window to where the man was now opening the passenger door for a younger woman (his wife, daughter?) holding a sleeping child in her lap.

Inés looked out the window as well before heading to the front door. "I'll go say hi, why don't you make them something to eat? I'm sure they won't want to worry about dinner while they're trying to unpack."

Antonia nodded and did as she was told, peeking out through the window every so often as her chicken and rice cooked. Her mother was still at the house when Antonia finished, no doubt helping the family to unpack or watching their son (she thought she'd seen another boy, but he'd rushed into the house too quickly for her to be sure).

She grabbed her dish, along with an unopened container of juice sitting in the fridge, and went over to their new neighbours' house.

"What— is that food?"

Antonia blinked when the door opened to reveal the other boy she had in fact seen running into the house earlier. He was older than the other boy, maybe 11 or 12, closer to her age. His hair was a darker brown, more like man's than the woman's and his brother's, though the scowl on his face was absolutely all his own.

"Oh, yeah! My mamá told me I should bring it over, I think she's still here."

The boy scrunched his face up for a moment before responding, slowly and purposefully, and that's when Antonia noticed she couldn't recognise his accent and Spanish was no doubt not his native language. "She's in the uh. Upstairs, with my mamma."

Antonia nodded and stepped inside (Mamá would tell her off for not waiting to be invited in first, but the boy seemed more interested in the food than her lack of manners). "Do you like chicken and rice?"

He peaked at the dish in her hands. "Maybe." Antonia went in the direction she hoped the kitchen was and once the room was located, she set the dish and juice on the counter.

"I'm Antonia, by the way."

"Romano," the boy mumbled. He dug through a box and pulled out a few forks, but no plates. Antonia tried to help find the plates, all the while listening to the boy mumble to himself in Italian (she was pretty sure it was Italian), but their search turned up nothing but utensils and cups.

That didn't seem to bother Romano, who just dug right into the chicken and rice after making Antonia pour him some juice.