England scowled as he looked through the sketches that he'd found shoved in with a load of other junk in a desk drawer. He hadn't really attempted anything artistic for years, not since France had suggested in one of their quieter moments that he learn. He paged through the various attempts at still life, pausing when he found some landscapes that weren't too terrible. Smiling, he put them to the side, and then frowned at something drawn on the back of one of his terrible attempts at a fruit bowl. He smirked at the caricature of France as a frog; the git must have been annoying him about his "technique" again
"What have you got there, Sasann?"
England turned to see Scotland lounging in the doorway "N-nothing!" he answered, trying to hide the drawings again, but he wasn't quick enough from Scotland's gaze
"You trying to draw again? I thought that you gave that up after that incident with France"
"No! Just doing some cleaning is all…"
"Cleaning, aye. In an old storeroom that we haven't used in years. I'd almost forgotten it was here til I heard your elephant feet galumphing about up here"
"That's why I'm cleaning, git! So we have more space…for when we need it" England finished lamely
Scotland raised an eyebrow, indicating that the room was half empty "Uh huh. You aren't just hiding things from me again, brat?"
"Why would I hide something from you?" The younger brother protested "There is nothing in here you don't already know about, so why don't you leave me to clean...I know how much you love to clean"
"Obviously not as much as you, seeing as this place hasn't needed a clean in decades" Scotland saw the pile of landscapes that England had put aside "What are these then Sasann? Were you hiding nudes up here?" He made a grab for the drawings
"No! They are landscapes! As in the countryside!" England snapped, jumping up and tried to snatch them back "Why do you care!"
Scotland held them teasingly out of reach "More to the point, why do you? I thought you hated your drawings?"
The Englishman blushed a little "I do!" he gritted his teeth, he didn't want Scotland of all people finding out why he had dug these out again
"Oh? Then I can just burn these then, aye? Since ye obviously don't care what happens to them"
"No!" England shouted launching himself on Scotland to try and grab the picture. Scotland grinned triumphantly, using his height to his advantage, keeping the sketches out of his brother's reach
"Ah, so ye do care what happens to them then? I wonder, what could have brought this on?"
"It's none of your bloody business!" England retorted, trying to reach them "Hand them over now!"
"Where's the fun in that eh?" The Scot smirked, effortlessly keeping them out of his younger brother's reach "If ye aren't gonna tell me then I can make sure ye won't see them again, Sasann!"
"Someone asked to look at them ok!" He snapped blushing at the thought
His older brother frowned, still holding the sketches above his head "Oh aye? And who would this someone be?" he asked teasingly. England looked away and mumbled the name
"Sasann, I don't have the ears of a bat, ye ken? You have to speak at a human level"
"I said Italy Romano asked if he could see them, ok?" England went red and growled folding his arms "Now hand them over!"
Scotland stared at the younger nation "Why? D'ye even know the lad?"
"He came over for a meeting instead of his brother...I asked him if he wanted a tour since he's never been here before, he said yes...then..." he blushed at the memories "Oh why the hell do you care!"
"Oh, shoot me for being curious as to why my little brother is creeping around in old storage rooms for nations he barely knows!" Scotland answered dramatically before holding the sketches just in reach
"I don't have to explain myself to you!" England yelled, not even realising how red his face was becoming
"Nah you're a big man now, eh? That completely doesn't blush like a school girl at the mention of a certain Italian nation" Scotland grinned at the Englishman's expression, teasing him was too much fun!
England's eyes snapped open "What is that supposed to mean!"
"Oh, nothin'" Scotland let the sketches drop onto the table "You're just cute when you're harbouring a crush, Sasann" he took advantage of the brief silence to walk back towards the door "Oh, and by the way, Nessie got into your liquor cabinet. I hope there wasn't anything too good in there"
England dived to the floor and gathered up the sketches "What! I…I have no crush!" he yelled, before processing what had just been said "Bloody hell, why does that beast always drink my liquor!"
The Scot shrugged "Maybe your fairies drive him to it? And of course ye haven't, Sasann. And I'm completely teetotal" he cackled as he left the room
England went bright red "Well, at least I have a better shot at finding someone!" he yelled then bit his tongue. Damn...now he had gone and admitted something he wasn't even sure about himself
Scotland simply flipped his brother the bird as he made his way down the stairs "Keep telling yourself that, brat"
England resisted the urge to stick his tongue out childishly at the Scot, why did he insist on nosing in his business? Did he just enjoy being an annoying arse? Gathering up the last of his old drawings he sighed and slipped them into his pocket, before heading downstairs, not looking forward to extricating a drunken plesiosaur from whatever remained of his drinks cabinet
England fought against his anxiety as he walked over to Romano during a break in the meetings "So…I brought those drawings that you wanted to see, they aren't very good though"
"Neither are mine" Romano opened his briefcase and pulled out a hand bound book. England felt a little ashamed as he pulled the loose sheets of paper out of his pocket.
Romano felt his expectations of England's work shoot through the floor as he picked up the crumpled sheets of cheap sketch paper. What kind of artist disrespected their work like that? Bracing himself for the worst, he unfolded the pages in front of him.
Well. That was unexpected. Romano stared at detailed sketches of English countryside, trees picked out in painstaking detail. Here a house nestled in-between hills, in this, a herd of cows blocked the road. Romano gaped; he hadn't expected this kind of stuff from the Brit.
England was likewise amazed at Romano's art. Unlike his own, these were fully painted up, bright blocks of colour depicted villa's and sea towns. The Brit stared; it was so unlike Romano, the colours reflecting the sun soaked vibrancy of his country. The Italian art that he'd seen had been mainly oil paintings depicting various religious scenes and while they'd been great technically…he'd felt that they were missing something
He was disturbed out of his reverie by Romano "How old are these again?"
"Umm" he paused as he had to think for a while "About…maybe 70 years? I haven't drawn in a long time"
"Hmm, it's a pity. Some of these are really good"
England looked at Romano "You've got to be joking, those are terrible, I can't draw. Certainly not compared to you"
The Italian let out a rough laugh "I am nothing special" his thoughts flickered to his brother then he sighed "Perhaps you could maybe draw me something...you never know you might have improved over the years" he suggested, hoping such comments would bring the Englishman out of his shell
England stared, stunned and unsure how to react...it bothered him that Romano had such a bad view of himself "I doubt it, but...only if you do as well!" he wasn't going to be the only one doing anything
"W-what?" Romano felt his cheeks burn "Why would you want something by me...all my work is boring compared to the other stuff from Veneciano..."
The Brit gaped "How are these boring?" he flipped back through the paintings "They're so..." he struggled for the words; he'd never really been involved in the art world even though some of his people had. He gave up trying to describe his opinion "They're hardly boring"
Romano looked over the drawings in his hand again, lost for words. They were that good were they? He blushed again "OK, OK...I guess I could try" he looked back down at the pictures "But take better fucking care of your artwork!"
England let the criticism pass, although he failed to see how leaving sketches in a drawer wasn't taking care of things...it was just paper, right? "So...when do you want to do this? I'm afraid I don't have any art materials"
The Italian pondered for a moment "How does a month sound, just...get a hardback book at least...your work needs to be better looked after...and it would be perfect..." and he handed back the sketches and held his hand out for his own
Hesitantly, the Englishman passed back the paintings "Yeah, of course, a month sounds good..." before he could continue however, they were called back to the meeting by their bosses. Sighing, he looked apologetically at Romano "I'll ring you about it later alright?"
Romano nodded a little too enthusiastically "That sounds fine" he hurried away questioning the excited feeling that seemed to make his heart race. Well, things were looking up again, the Brit's artistic ability was nowhere near as bad as he had made out, and it might be fun to draw with someone who was more at his own level, comparing himself to Veneciano just made him depressed.
England sighed as he watched Romano return to his boss. The Italian's sudden interest in him had set him on edge at first but he guessed if there had been some ulterior motive it would have shown itself by now, right? It had been nearly 3 months after all…although he did still wonder what had sparked Romano's sudden interest in him. Well, he guessed he would find out more later, as he struggled to pay attention again. He felt the faint ghost of a smile play across his face. Maybe he shouldn't second guess this, it was nice to have someone act like this without wanting anything he supposed, he'd make the most of it while it lasted.
So introducing Scotland! I hope you like as this is the first time I've used an OC
so Romano and England are gonna seperate again for a bit now...I actually looked back and realised "Damn. This is a looong fic, 10 chapters and they have barely got anywhere!" so I'm sorry! They may need some prodding...any suggestions?
On another note, samstar1990 and I set up a gakuen rp forum that's kind of a cross between Hetalia and The Dreaming, I'll post the link if anyone is interested?
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, faved or alerted, I've moved back home for the holidays now, so hopefully I will have more time for writing now!
Please review!