Apologies for this being so late! Struggled with this a bit, plus my uni deadlines are coming up, so I have to give them priority. Hopefully this worth the wait!

Romano glowered at the drizzle as his plane landed in Heathrow. Typical fucking English weather, he understood now what England had meant when he said that the weather couldn't make up its mind, muttering to himself, he pulled his collar up as he hurried through the wet haze.

Once he was sorted in his hotel room, he paused. Should he ring England now? Or would that be too obvious, maybe he should wait until the meeting tomorrow…His hand had other ideas however, picking up the hotel's phone, he was halfway through dialling England's number before he realised what he was doing…then it was too late…

"Hello?"

"England?"

"Hello? Who is this?" England was cleaning around the house and the top shelf of his book case had decided it liked the floor when he heard the phone ring...he was a little frustrated

"It's Romano...have I called at a bad time?"

"Ah, Romano...n-no...sorry, it's not a bad time, are you OK?" England felt himself blushing, feeling embarrassed about yelling down the phone, it was very unbecoming of a gentlemen

Romano felt his face heating up, why? Neither of them had done anything yet! "Yeah, yeah I'm fine, just thought it would be..." Oh, what was the best word? "Polite to let my host country know I'm here."

"Ah I see, I do hope the flight went alright" England turned and looked out the window and winced seeing the rain "Sorry about the weather, Romano"

Romano restrained the urge to yell at the tea bastard about his weather "W-well, I guess it can't be helped...is your weather always like this though?"

"Would you hate me if I told you it was bright skies and sunshine yesterday?"

"I would not believe you bastard, no way could the weather have changed so quickly!"

"Believe it, Romano...in fact I think the sun is coming out now... British weather can change within hours" England laughed opening up the window

Romano turned to look out the window, and saw that the sun was indeed streaking through the clouds "It's still raining though" he answered, disliking how sulky he was sounding "Your weather is fucking insane"

"Yes...but you get used to it...or at least you learn to accept it..." he laughed

Romano rolled his eyes "I doubt I ever will 'get used' to it" he replied before blushing deeper. That could be seen as presumptuous ... he began silently begging for England to be as dense as America with this kind of thing

"So do you have any plans for this evening, Romano?" England asked. Only out of interest, right?

"Err" No was the short answer, he'd been catching up on the notes for the meeting, since Veneciano had written them, it had taken a while to decipher them "Well, I've never been to London before, so I wasn't sure..."

"If you want...I could show you a place to eat? Hotel food can be horribly expensive after all" England found he was fidgeting...but he didn't know why. He was just being polite!

Romano grinned; this could only help him right? "That sounds good to me...if it's not too much trouble" Best to stay polite, he figured, that was what he heard him yell at America for most

"Great!" Gah why did that sound so happy? "Erm...so I could meet you at your hotel if you like..." he was blushing after the first outburst hoping he didn't scare the boy

Romano smirked at the Englishman's outburst, he was good! That was the only reason he was happy about England being happy right? "Y-yeah, that'd be good...so umm, how are you?"

"I have been fine thank you Romano, sorry last time we met we were picking up drunken idiots...I am surprised I didn't see Germany like we usually do..."

Romano repressed his hatred for the German enough to stay civil "France said Prussia was there when they started..."

"I wonder where he ended up...hopefully not on a flag pole like last time"

Romano supressed a snort at this "His face was priceless...shame Spain was in the same boat, it took ages to get him down!"

"yes...well at least this time we can talk to each other without drunken banter on our shoulders" he tidied himself up " what's your hotel again?"

"Err...it's some chain place...Crown something" Romano answered, feeling a little stupid

"I think I know where you are" England smiled " I'll be over in 10 minutes is that ok?"

That fast? Romano paused, he couldn't exactly say no though "Y-yeah, sure, I'll wait in reception" he replied. Why was he so nervous? "See you soon"

"OK, bye" England put down the phone and suddenly realised his heart was racing...but why?

Romano glowered as he waited in the lobby. This was a bad idea…England's lack of taste was legendary! No doubt he would take him to one of those 'pubs' that he had heard France complain about, oh this was going to be worse than that time that Veneciano had somehow dragged him to a German beer hall. He shuddered, he had been forced to squeeze onto one bench between his brother and some drunk German who he didn't know and as far as he could tell, the menu had consisted of nothing but wurst and potatoes. He was disturbed from his thought path by England, who tapped him on the shoulder

"Ready to go?"

Romano nodded, trying to hide his growing nervousness with a smile. England smiled back, although with a slight frown, and the two left the hotel into the damp chill

"So umm…where are we going, Arthur?" Romano asked hesitantly, trying not to let his worry show in his voice

"I thought I'd take you to a traditional place I know near here"

"Traditional as in traditionally English?" Fuck, he really was near panicking now; he had heard too many horror stories about English food to stay calm.

England must have noticed this because he rolled his eyes, stating "My food isn't THAT bad you know, France's taste buds are oversensitive and he's never been to a decent place anyway"

"He says you drag him to places and force him to eat though…" Romano muttered suspiciously, even though he knew France could be a drama queen

"The places I go with France are places to drink, not eat" England explained "The frog is only sufferable when I've had a few. Ah, here we are"

Romano looked up to the mock Tudor building "A pub?" he asked feeling his stomach begin to protest

"No, a carvery" England replied "It's more…civilised"

Bewildered, Romano followed England, blinking in surprise at the warmth that hit them the second they stepped inside. They were seated and were handed a couple of empty plates. Romano blinked in confusion

"I was under the impression that we'd actually get some edible here" He stated, raising one eyebrow.

England sighed "Let me take my coat off and we'll go get some" he picked up his plate and, indicating that Romano should follow him, led him to a buffet style arrangement, where he nodded at a man stood behind a hatch "With carvery, the basic idea is that although you can go back for more vegetables and sides, you can only get the meat cuts once. So make sure he gives you a decent amount" he explained, examining a chalkboard with the name of various types of meat.

After getting their food, Romano pretty much copying England as he was uncertain as to what to do, they went back to their table. As he went to eat, Romano could feel England's eyes staring at him expectantly. Bracing himself for the worst, he bit into the food.

…Well, it wasn't complete shit, so that was a relief. He frowned as he chewed, it was…different. Most of the flavour actually seemed to come from the gravy, not the meat itself which surprised him. He was used to Italian dishes, where the flavour exploded into your mouth and made your tongue tingle. The flavour in this was muted, everything tried to complement each other, so nothing really stood out in the same way…but it was certainly not as bad as he'd been led to believe.

"Well?" England was trying to sound casual he could tell, but his tone betrayed his worry and expectation

Romano paused "It's…palatable. Better than I was expecting, anyway"

"Oh? That's-that's good to know" England bent forward over his own meal, but not before Romano had seen his cheeks flush at the backhanded compliment. So cute…wait, what?

"What is that exactly?" he poked his fork at an unfamiliar object on his plate

"Yorkshire pudding. It's just batter; leave it if you don't want it"

"No, I've come this far…may as well try" He muttered, and then regretted it. Augh, that was odd, it was like eating crunchy nothing…he forced himself to swallow nonetheless, but his opinion must have shown on his face because England quickly blurted "Its fine if you don't like it!"

"Mmm sorry, but that is just…weird…"

"Its fine honestly Lovino, I'm not offended or anything. You're hardly the first to have a problem with English food"

The Brit paused at this, seeming to be lost in thought before he shook it off with a querying "So any idea what you'd like to do after the meeting?"

"Well, I don't really know London…this is actually my first time in your country so I don't really know what's good"

England looked up in surprise, then thought for a minute before answering "Yes…now I come to think about it, it's always been your younger brother who came whenever I hosted…why the sudden interest if it's not too personal a question?"

Romano froze. Without really thinking, he spat back "Do I need an excuse? Feli's been overworking himself, I'm taking on more of his share is all"

England looked away, surprised by the outburst. After a few minutes of silence, he mumbled "He's lucky…to have you for a brother, I mean"

"Eh?"

England looked up and smiled before returning to his food "It's nothing..."

Romano frowned, but let it slide, he didn't want to press him on something that he was clearly uncomfortable with. It would only succeed in making the dinner awkward.

The moment quickly passed, and despite the English food, Romano found it a very enjoyable evening. They agreed to meet after the meeting when England would 'show him around properly' apparently the idea of being able to show someone around who had never been here excited the Brit. As Romano shifted further under the hotel covers, he felt a small smile flick across his face at the memory of England's face as he'd tried not to show his excitement. As he fell further into sleep, he decided that the Englishman's mood must be infectious; there was no other reason why he would be so excited for tomorrow. Definitely.

Many thanks to my reviewers and rp friends for getting me to finish this!

The France goes apeshit contest is still on, just upload your oneshot somewhere and pm me a link. I've decided to put the deadline for the end of May, please write something epic to make up for that fact that I couldn't!

The Germany comment is an idea that I had with samstar1990, where Germany, Romano and England make up the Recovery Trio who generally end up cleaning up after the Bad Touch Trio (although sometimes Canada replaces Germany) since Romano half lives with Spain, Prussia lives with Germany and England and France have a mutual agreement that if one of them gets drunk, the other will get them home

The German beer hall thing is based on what I have experienced when I've been to Germany. I love German food. The lack of personal space while eating? Not so much.

I wanted to send them to a carvery because it is a English staple and I've never seen it done.

My personal opinion is that although England himself can't cook, the English can. So there.

Romano shares my personal dislike of Yorkshire pudding. I will take your abuse now, although samstar1990 has already threatened to beat me to a pulp over this

Thanks so much to all those who faved, alerted and reviewed, this story would have probably died without you guys! I always answer questions in reviews so feel free to ask if anything is unclear!