Around four weeks had passed since the couples last appointment, the one where they saw their little one kick around in Lovino's belly. Since then, the baby did nothing but kick and move around. Lovino adored the feeling of course but he didn't absolutely love when the baby decided to do backflips in his belly at 3:00am. Sadly enough, that was becoming a disliked routine.
One morning, the early sunlight poured into the couples bedroom eventually making it's way to Lovino's shut eyes. The Italian groaned and reached out to the other side of the bed in hopes of feeling Antonio beside him but that was not the case.
"Toni.." Lovino mumbled, fingers still searching.
After a few seconds of effortless searching, Lovino sat up straight and looked around. The other nation was no where in sight.
"Damn bastard, leaving me by myself. Who the hell does he think he is?" Lovino mumbled to himself, tossing the blankets off of his body.
He shakily stood off the bed trying his best to support the weight of his round protruding belly. Thankfully the baby didn't move or even kick for that matter. With a small sigh, Lovino waddled downstairs to the kitchen and to his surprise, Antonio was standing at the counter all dressed up and sipping a cup of coffee.
"Buenos dias, mi amor." Antonio smiled before taking another sip from his mug.
"Buenos nothing, where are you going?" Lovino asked, opening the fridge.
"Ah I forgot to tell you but Im going to be in and out of meetings for the next week or two." Antonio explained.
"Whyyy?" Lovino whined, closing the fridge door.
"Because my boss wants to do something with taxes and the economy, it's a lot." Antonio told him, setting the mug down. "I've got to be going now anyway."
Lovino sighed, "All right, I love you."
"I love you too." Antonio smiled, going over and kissing his husbands cheek, "And I love you too bebé!" The Spaniard placed his hands on Lovino's large belly.
The baby responded by kicking softly but Lovino knew Antonio couldn't feel it. The Spaniard still had yet to experience that feeling.
"The bambino just kicked, congratulations, you woke the little one up." Lovino told him.
"Sorry." Antonio chuckled.
"Don't apologize to me, apologize to your kid." Lovino said.
Antonio kneeled down and kissed Lovino's belly, "Sorry bebé, I didn't mean to wake you up. Don't give your mama a hard time."
"Yea like the baby would ever let me take it easy." Lovino rolled his eyes, "All it ever does is kick."
"Which is a good thing!" Antonio said, standing up straight. "I'm gonna to get going, I'll see you later."
"See you later and don't get home too late." Lovino said sternly.
"I'll try." Antonio replied, giving Lovino's cheek a final kiss.
Bored.
That's just what Lovino was, bored. He had nobody to talk to at the moment. Alfred was stuck in a meeting as well so the option of talking to him was out of the question. Feliciano couldn't talk, he said something about Gilbert forgetting to put the top on the blender and a huge mess of whatever he was making was all over the place. Those were the only people Lovino bothered to talk to so he was left all alone. Well not completely alone, a few kicks every hour reminded him of that.
Just as the nation walked through the hallway, sighing in boredom, he spotted a door at the end of the corridor. The attic door. He can't even recall the last time he'd been up there, it had to have been at least 40 years.
Lovino hummed, maybe this would be entertaining, it could provide a few bored-free hours until Antonio came home. In a matter of a few steps, Lovino found himself twisting the knob on the wooden door. It opened with a high pitched creek, how long had it been since Antonio replaced all of these old doors? The short walk up the stairs was dark and dusty, until Lovino swatted some dust away and flicked on the old lights. He was surprised that the light even worked.
Looking around, there were boxes stacked up on top of each other, some old furniture from what Lovino could see was the 18th century. Not to mention there were quite a number of paintings spanning from at least the 16th or 17th century.
"Why doesn't he ever clean out all this crap?" Lovino wondered out loud walking over to one of the paintings.
As he dusted it off with his hand, the particles caused him to sneeze a few times. Surprisingly, the motion seemed to startle the baby, sending the little one jerking back and squirming around in Lovino's belly.
The nation laughed, "Sorry bambino."
A few seconds after, he picked up the large painting and saw that it was an old portrait of Spain in his pirate days. The way he looked was intoxicating, he used to look so powerful, it really brought memories back. Lovino smiled fondly to himself before putting the painting back down and going to look in one of the boxes.
The box was covered in a thing layer of dust so Lovino brushed it off before opening in. Looking inside, he could see a few paint brushes and an old 18th century paint box. It used to belong to him. He recalled Antonio giving it to him after the older nation fought to get him back from Austria and France. In the 1700's, after Antonio got back control of some parts of Southern Italy, Lovino went to live with him again. Antonio gave this to him as a 'welcome back home' gift even though Lovino argued, saying he wasn't as good as Veneziano was at painting so the gift was a waste. Antonio had replied telling him that he didn't have to be as good as his little brother, that he was his own person and that he liked Lovino's paintings the way they were. From there, Lovino caught himself falling for Antonio and a bittersweet romance blossomed between them but that was a story for another time.
Lovino shook his head free from those old memories and examined the box set a little more. Maybe he should pick up painting again. When he first received the gift, all he would do is paint. The hobby was dropped a few years later when he couldn't find the time for it anymore.
But now things were different and it seemed like he would have a little more free time before the baby was born. Especially if Antonio continued these all day meetings.
The time was about 9:00pm when Antonio pulled up his car in the driveway and nearly 3 minuets after that, he unlocked the house door with his keys.
"Lovino, I'm home!" Antonio called out, stepping in and kicking the door closed.
The Spaniard was greeted by Lovino who was carrying what seemed to be a somewhat heavy box down the main stair way. Immediately upon seeing the smaller nation lifting anything remotely heavy, Antonio panicked.
"You know we have a lot of crap in the attic." Lovino began looking over the box at Antonio's worried expression, "What's wrong with you?"
The Spaniard sprinted forward and grabbed the box out of his husbands hands.
"Lovino, you shouldn't be lifting anything heavy!" Antonio scolded. "It's bad for the bebé!"
"It's not even that heavy!" Lovino exclaimed, "Stop treating me like a damn child!"
The change in volume of Lovino's voice made the baby jerk back almost like it did earlier in the attic. This time the movement was accompanied with a few strong kicks. Lovino pressed his hand against his belly and bit down on his lower lip.
"Are you okay?" Antonio asked, his voice full of concern.
"The baby got scared because I raised my voice." Lovino explained. "I think it gets scared when it hears loud noises. Right now it's kicking, see if you can feel it."
Tucking the box under his arm, Antonio placed a hand right on top of Lovino's round belly. He was curious as to what the baby felt like when it kicked, he had never been able to feel it before, the kicks weren't ever strong enough. The Italian placed a hand over Antonio's and moved it a little more to the right where the baby had just been kicking. A few seconds later, the baby gave a full forced kick directly underneath Antonio's hand and the older nation gasped in awe.
"Lovi I felt it!" He exclaimed happily.
"So did I and it hurt like a bitch." Lovino chuckled before feeling the baby kick a few more times in the same spot.
Antonio laughed, a huge smile on his face, "This is so amazing! I can't believe I can feel the baby!" He cheerfully hugged Lovino as best as he could while still hold the box under his arm, "I love you so much Lovi."
Lovino smiled back, burying his face in the crook of the Spaniards neck before mumbling an, "I love you too."
They pulled away from their embrace a few moments later and smiled to each other until Lovino spoke up.
"Look inside the box." The younger nation said, pointing to it in Antonio's arm.
"Hm? What's in here?" The Spaniard lifted the sides of the box and looked around the many paint brushes before spotting the old wooden box set of paints.
He reached in and took it out carefully, a nostalgic smile plastered on his face.
"I can't even remember the last time I saw this." Antonio chuckled, examining the box, "I thought you threw it away a long time ago."
"Threw it away? Why would I do that?" Lovino wondered, "It's part of the reason why I fell in love with you."
"It is isn't it?" Antonio asked, a sly smile on his face.
"Mhm." Lovino nodded with a small smile, "You gave it to me, told me I was different, actually made me feel loved and well since then I've loved you."
"Aw, Lovi." Antonio smiled before kissing his cheek.
A blush spread across Lovino's cheeks, tinting them red.
"Alright, enough sappy stuff." Lovino stated, trying to get back into his usual 'tough' character, "Let's go upstairs and finish clearing out the attic."
"Alright. But where are we putting all of the stuff?" Antonio asked.
"The basement or we can use one of the spare rooms as a storage room." Lovino answered.
"Okay." Antonio nodded as they started walking up the stairs, "Why are you clearing out the attic, mi amor?"
"To make it into a little art studio, I want to get back into painting." Lovino explained.
"You're getting back into painting?" Antonio smiled, opening the attic door as they reached it.
"Yes, I think it might be a good hobby to have, just until the baby is born at least." Lovino nodded.
"Good, you'll need something to occupy yourself with while I'm in and out of meetings with my boss." Antonio said before chuckling softly.
"Don't remind me of how lonely I'm going to be these next few weeks." Lovino rolled his eyes.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated, I just haven't had the time, y'know school and stuff. I've been having a lot of extra work to do too. But I'm going to try to update again soon, I hope you guys liked this chapter! Next chapter is where the baby shower finally takes place so I'm excited to write that!
Thanks for reading guys!
Review, lovelies!