RomanoxReader The Pickpocket Chapter 6

You were amazed at how the central piazza of the town had been transformed.  There were trees forming a ring around the tables, which formed a ring around a large open space.  Someone had hung lights in the trees so when the sun set, the square was illuminated by the twinking lights and the lamps, creating an almost fairy-tale-like atmosphere.  Some of the older men were playing instruments in a corner, making it seem even even more surreal.   You would have like to have sat with Italy and Spain as well as Romano, but for some reason, the former two had bailed and gone to sit with Ms. Annetta.

So you and Romano were sitting together.  At a table.  Alone.  In a possibly romantic setting.  You didn't understand it, but it made you self-conscious and a little embarrassed.  Romano was all flustered and didn't seem at all ready to talk.  It was probably due to the fact that he knew all of the people sitting at the other tables and didn't want them to think that you two were a couple.  He just played around with the food on his plate and stared past you or at the table cloth absent-mindedly.  So you decided to start by asking how he knew Spainsh.  It seemed as good a place as any.

"What the hell kind of question is that?"
"Well, I was curious, so I asked."
"Uh, well Spain raised me, so it was only natural that I'd learn it.  Even though I didn't want to."  He rubbed the back of his head.
"Why not?"
"I'm sure that even from your short time with him you can tell that he's kind of an asshole, so I didn't really want to do anything he told me.  Plus, learning his language was like renouncing my own culture for his."
"Well you're so lucky that you're trilingual.  I wish I could speak Spanish."
"Why Spanish?"
"Well isn't it like the fourth most spoken language in the world?"
"Third," Romano corrected.
"Yeah, see?  So I think it'd be really helpful to know it."
"Humph."

"So...does Veneziano speak Spanish?"
"No, he was raised by Austria, and I don't think the stupid aristocrat taught him German.  Although that hardly matters now."
"Why?"
"Well my idiot of a brother has gone and fallen in love with Germany himself.  And has started learning the language, and it really pisses me off."
"Why does that piss you off?"
"The last time my brother got romantically involved with the stupid potato-bastard, he ended up getting hurt, and now he's doing it all over again.  That's why."

"So, uh," you weren't sure how to phrase your question without sounding incredibly rude and offensive, "Is your little brother, uh, gay?"  Surprisingly enough, Romano didn't get upset at all.  He seemed only mildly surprised by the question.
"No, we're countries.  We don't really have a sexuality.  We're attracted to personality and values rather than gender or appearance or anything shallow like you humans."
"Gee, way to just call out the entire human race."
"Not my fault you guys don't learn."
"Oh, and you do?"  The conversation was quickly turning into a pithy teasing battle, trying to see who would fail to come up with a good come-back first.  Romano lost.
"Well, I mean, I try to."  You had not expected an earnest response like that.  Now what?

"So why the hell are you asking so many questions?"
"Because that's the only way to get you to talk, isn't it?"
"N-no it isn't," he was about to say something else when a little girl with black hair and big brown eyes tugged on his sleeve.  She said something you didn't understand, and Romano laughed and stood up.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing, she just wants to dance."  The people who had finished their meal of sofrita, gnocchi, and chicken had gotten up and were dancing to a lively tune supplied by the musicians.  "Do you want to dance too?"  Such a question, in such a sweet little voice surprised you.  The little girl looked up at you eagerly.  You laughed and shook your head.

"I'm not a very good dancer," you said simply.  The girl looked at you in wonder.  You figured no one had ever told this particular girl that someone could be bad at dancing.
"Come on Francesca, she's just boring, unlike you," Romano had a kind of smirk on his face that was absolutely captivating.  The little girl took his hand and they disappeared in the growing crowd of happy dancing country-folk.  You couldn't help but smiling at the dancers.  Every once in a while, you'd see Italy or Spain twirling around a girl and just having a good time in general, but it was Romano that you were really looking for.  And everytime you found him in the swirling mass of people, he was smiling.  He was happy and smiling.  He would switch partners in time with the music and strike up a conversation with his new companion, laugh a little and then switch off again.  It was almost hypnotic in its repetition and motion.

You quickly shook your head and tried to think about what you should do for your school project and daydreaming about the pretty pictures you had taken of the sunset over the feilds.  You didn't notice the music change to a slower, less frantic song, so it kind of startled you when a hand reached out to you.  It was Romano's.  He was standing there awkwardly and blushing bright pink.

"Come on.  You're gonna dance with me."
"But I told you I can't dance!"  He took a hold of your hand, so you stood up, seeing as you didn't really have much of a choice.
"Doesn't matter; I'll lead."  He moved to the dance floor and hesitantly put his free hand on your waist.  You watched his feet to try and follow his movements and mind the other couples who were skillfully swaying together, but ended up stepping on his feet within the first three movements.

"Sorry!"
"You really do have two left feet, don't you?" he grumbled.
"Remember that you're the one who asked," you said.
"Well if you'd just let me lead, this wouldn't be an issue."
"Maybe you're a bad lead."
"Maybe if you'd just shut it."  You laughed.
"Like that'll ever happen."  He rolled his eyes and smiled a little.  Until you stepped on his foot again.
"Ow!"
"Sorry!"  He sighed and smiled again at you.  You looked down to hide your face, using the excuse of trying not to step on his feet again.

"You know, this is the first time I think I've ever seen you smile so much," you said, still not looking up.
"O-of course it is.  These are my people, they make me happy."  there was a nervous tremmor in his voice.  He didn't like where this conversation was headed.  You finally looked up to see that his face was just as bright as yours felt.
"Well, then it's first time I've seen you happy."
"No it isn't.  I'm happy..."  It was his turn to look down. He fmbled over the last words and got really quiet so you coldn't hear him over the music
"What?"
"I'm happy when I'm with you."  You couldn't believe that Romano had said something like that.  You were so shocked that you stepped on his foot again.
"Ow!"
"S-sorry!"  Just then the song ended and the man playing the accordion started up a jovial song and was soon joined by the other instruments.  Romano let go of you and nervously sractched the back of his head.

"Well, uh, I guess if yoyu don't want to keep dancing, you don't have to."  You smiled and tried not to make it seem like you didn't want to keep dancing.
"Your feet are just lucky that I'm so tired!"  A taller woman with long brown hair and tanned skinned came up expectantly next to Romano, so you quietly retreated to the table where Spain had decided to take a rest.  You sat next to him and he nudged you with his elbow.

"Lovi's a regular casanova, isn't he?"
"If he could stand to speak without blushing or stuttering over himself, sure," you retorted, completely ignoring the fact that you were blushing as well.  Spain just laughed before saying, "Yeah, but that's what makes him so funny.  Wine?"  He offered you a bottle of red that was on the table.  He already had a full glass.  You shook your head.
"I don't really care for wine."

"Then you obviously haven't had this."  He poured you a glass and looked at you expectantly.  He really did remind you of a puppy dog, the way he looked at you, then the glass, and then at you again and gave a kind of nod.  You gave a half hearted laugh as you picked it up, sniffed it and put it to your lips.  You grimanced as you set the glass down.  It kind reminded you of the time you had accidently tasted acid in chemistry class.  Bitter and caustic.  Spain laughed and patted you on the back.

"I told you I don't like wine!" you exclaimed, really not sure as to what he had been expecting.  For some reason, no one wanted to listen to you tonight.
"You have to keep drinking it for it to taste good!"  Seriously?  You gave him an incredulous look before rolling your eyes.  He had already finished his glass and was poring himself another.  "Wine has an acquired taste."
"I'm not really sure I want to acquire that taste."  And yet, somehow he managed to get you to finish it, and then a second glass.  He was even going to pour you another but you stopped him, saying, "So help me, Spain, if you pour me another glass, I will make sure I vomit on you!"

"Come on, let's dance!"  He picked you up, and it must have been the alcohol, but you didn't protest.  As soon as the two of you had gotten into the crowd, Spain zoned in on Romano who was still dancing with the tall tan woman.  The song ended and the woman whispered something to Romano before flitting off into the villagers.  Spain promptly pushed you into your Italian friend and then chased after the girl Romano had been dancing with.  The next song was extremely fast paced, almost crazed or frenzied, and the natives began cheering and setting themselves up in rings.  Romano, a little flustered at your sudden entrance, tried his best to move into the right position.

You apologized for Spain's odd behavior, but before Romano could say anything, he spun you off the man to his left.  You tried your best to follow this new man's steps, but again found yorself being passed to the next partner.  The circles of people casually moved in and out from each other, as if it were the easiest thing in the world.  There was so much sharp color amid the blackness of the night sky and so much spinning that you just couldn't help but feel out of control.  But it wasn't bad either.  You were pretty sure you met up with Italy and Spain a few times, but you were just so dizzy that you couldn't be sure.

The people clapped in time with the beat and began shouting the words to the song.  You were spun off one last time and actually ran into your last partners chest.  Then, as soon as the dance had started, it was over.  You looked up only to see Romano's startled blushing face.  You muttered your apologies and stepped aside.  The villagers kissed their friends good night and said their good-byes to the three countries and slowly dispersed into the surrounding houses.  Annetta walked up to you and gave you a big hug, simialr to the one she had given you earlier in the day.

"Don't let the boys make you mad too much, okay?"  You laughed a little bit and agreed.  You waited for the last of the people to clear out of the square before approaching your friends.  The lights in the trees went out, and one by one, the lights in the widows went dark.  Spain grabbed your hand and started running to the house you were staying in.  To be completely honest, you were surprised that you actually run with how much alcohol you'd consumed.

"Last one home has to help with clean up tomorrow~!"
"Aw, fuck!"  Romano started running after you two.
"No fair! Spain! You know I hate running!"
"Italy you should be the fastest here with all Germany's training!"
"But I-"  face first, right into the ground.  You laughed a little, but then felt bad, so you yanked your hand from Spain and went back to help Italy up.  Once he had stopped crying and you were sure he was okay, you ran towards the house again, leaving Italy in your dust.

"Hey! ____, wait up!"
"No way!  I don't want to have to help clean!"
"Smart girl!" Spain called from ahead of you.

Italy got up early the next morning to help break down the tables and put away the lights.  You woke up with a headache and a very bad taste in your mouth.
"Spain! this is all your fault!"  You had to brush your teeth about three times before even before breakfast, just to get that taste out.  You complained at the breakfast table about your headache and both Spain and Romano laughed at your low tolerance for alcohol.  This did not put you in any sort of a better mood.  You drank some coffee, hoping that the caffine would give you some relief, and it did, but not enough to make you happy.

"Is there any asprin or something?"
"Not my house," Romano said rudely as he stuffed a pastry into his mouth.
"Sorry, I don't now," Spain answered.  He was much more polite.  "Maybe Feli knows?"
"Feli?"
"Yeah, Ita-pequita's human name."
"His name's Feliciano, you dumbass.  Feli's just a stupid nickname you gave him 'cause you're too fucking lazy to say his whole name."  You'd been meaning to ask Spain and Italy what their names were.

"So Italy's name is Feliciano?"
"Yup! Feliciano Vargas!"
"What about you, Spain? What's your human name?"  Spain, who was standing at the counter turned and did some flamboyant arm movements, reminiscant of flamenco dancing as he dramatically said his name.
"I am Antonio Fernandez Carriedo!"  He rolled his r's with the up-most emphasis.
"Oh my God,"  Romano rolled his eyes and just looked away.  "Stop being such an asshole."  You couldn't help but giggle at Spain's over the top performance.
"Isn't it sexy?  I picked it out especially!"  there were those excited puppy-dog eyes again.
"Yes, yes it's very nice Spain."  He laughed too. Romano continued trying to ignore you two.  Maybe you didn't need that asprin.  Your headache was starting to disappear.  When Feliciano came back all tired and sweaty from cleaning, you all decided to go see the coast, which was about an hour's walk from the town.

You stayed about a week and a half in the village drawing the countryside, but mainly babysitting the town children and Italy.  You didn't understand how that Germany guy could do it everyday.  Italy was more of a handful than the kids!  But during one of the hotter days, he laid down on one staircases leading up to a house where you were sitting on, watching the kids.

"Veh, _____, you should come and see Venice during Carnivale!"
"huh?"
"In February!  You should come see th big carnival we have for Fat Tuesday."
"Oh! Right! I'm sorry, I forgot about that.  I'd love to."  You had always liked the masks that the people wore and all the colorful clothing.
"Bring Romano, too.  It's been such a long time since he's been in Venice."  Italy pouted as he tried counting back the years.
"Yeah, why doesn't he like going to Veince?  He said he didn't want to go when I suggested it to him earlier."
"I don't know.  Maybe it's bacause it's my city."
"Huh?" again, you were clueless about this country thing.
"You know, Venice, Veneziano; Rome, Romano?"  You couldn't believe you'd missed that.  But now Romano's refusal made more sense.  Although he hadn't told you outright, you'd sort of picked up on Romano's inferiority complex.  Just the way he talked about Italy made it pretty obvious.

"Well I'll try to convince him to go, okay?"
"Yay!  Plus if you go, youll get to meet big brother France and I'm forcing Germany to come so you'll get to meet them too!"  Now you really wanted to go.  You decided to mess around with Italy's head a bit.
"Hmm. Let's see, I'll bet Germany is really tall and muscular with blonde hair and blue eyes.  And I'll bet that France is really hairy and smelly and deosn't like fighting.  I'll bet he's super romantic and overly dramatic, too."  Italy actually opened his eyes in wonder.

"How did you know?  Did Romano tell you?"  You had to laugh at his niavety
"No, It was just a guess, seeing as you and Romano pretty much embody what people think Italy is like, and Spain does the same for his country."
"Oh."  you could tell it flew over his head.
"But I can't wait to meet Germany and France."
"And if you're really lucky, yo'll get to meet Germany's brother, Prussia!"  You laughed again.
"Well, then I'm really excited.  Do they still dress up and wear masks?"
"Of course they do!"  The converstion continued until Romano and Spain both came back from working in the feilds with the men of the village.

"What have you two been doing all day?"
"Well Ms. Edda asked us to look after her kids."
"And where are these kids?"  Romano looked around the street.
"They're behind the pink building over there!"  Italy pointed to the street corner where two little girls and a boy were peaking out from behind the pink wall and giggling.  When Italy pointed at them, the all jumped back behind the wall.
  
And that was how your days passed in the town.  Romano and Spain would head off to the feilds and work hard to help out there, while you and Feli would help the stay-at-home women take care of the kids.  There had been days when Italy wold try to go out and work with his brothers, but he always came back by noon because he was tired and absolutely no help.  You had actually visited the feilds early on in your stay to see if you could help.  You had been shocked to find how difficult the work was and how hot the sun got.  Literally five minutes into the work, all the men had stripped their shirts off.  You went home with Italy that day.  You just couldn't take the heat, both literally and figuratively.

After a week, you woke up and found Spain at the breakfast table with a suit case.  He was dressed in a nice-looking suit and had a newspaper in his hand.
"Where are you off to, all fancy-like?" you asked with a yawn.
"Hmm? Oh, good morning, ______.  I'm heading home."
"What?"
"Yeah, I was here because my boss had business in Italy, but he says it's time to go home now, so I gotta go."
"Oh, that's disappointing."
"Don't worry! I'm sure we'll meet again! Especially if you stay with Lovi!"
"How many times have I told you not to fucking call me that?!"  Romano called from the next room.  You and Spain laughed, then he kissed you good-bye and headed out, saying "Tell Feli bye for me, and that Germany called.  He's worried sick about the little guy!"  You waved him off and then shut the door behind him.

"Well there goes one of our party."
"Two,"  Roma said, walking into the kitchen.
"How do you figure?"
"If that asshole is calling around for Veneziano, there's a reason for it.  Italy's gonna leave soon too."
"Oh," was all you could manage.  Sure enough upon hearing about Germany's call, Italy had packed his bags and rushed out of the house, leaving you and Romano on your own again.

"We should probably be moving on as well."
"Aw, really? It's so nice here though!"
"Hey, you said you wanted to see Capri and Florence, right?  Well you can't fucking get there if you're stuck here."  You pouted a little, but complied since you knew he was right.  You both decided to stay in the Southern area of Italy for the time being and head towards the Almafi coast and Capri.  You visited Annetta one last time before leaving for the bus stop.

"It has been good knowing you, ______."  She hugged you and whispered a piece of advice to you.  "I know what this is, and you should figure it out before an opportunity passed you for someone else."  She quickly let go and gave Romano a hug before he could realize any information had been exchanged.  Even though you had no clue what she was talking about.

You were so excited about Capri that you questioned Romano all about it on the bus.  He had quickly grown irritated with you and said, "Shut the hell up, you crazy girl."  So you looked out the window and daydreamt.  What on earth had Annetta meant?  As if her broken English wasn't enough, now you had to deal with her elderly cryptic message.  So you forgot about it and just thought about everyhing that had happened to you in the last week.  You couldn't wait for Veneziano's Carnivale and you were sure that winning Romano over would be just as entertaining.