RomanoxReader The Pickpocket Chapter 5

After an hour of trudging through the Italian country-side, you were sweaty, hot, and irritated.  Romano had not been much of a help, seeing as everytime you asked a question, he'd just grunt and pick up his pace.  When you finally reached the outskirts of the village, Romano ducked into a little shop with a sign that you assumed said "groceries."  At least it seemed plausible, as there were trays of eggplants, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and zucchini set up on the stands in front of the building.  You looked around at the eerily empty street and decided that it would probably be best to follow Romano.

Upon entering the shop, you were greeted with a wall of garlic-smell.  It was so strong, it almost made your eyes water, but you bravely fought your way into the shop and found Romano seated at a tiny table in the back of a shop with an elderly woman.  They spoke quickly and Romano took out his wallet, emptied its contents and just watched as the woman took all of it.

"Wh-what are you doing?"
"What does it look like?  Giving her the money I collected!"
"Collected?  Where did you "collect" that from?!"  He didn't say anything and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.  "Where?"
"Th-the train station."
"You can't keep doing that!  You're gonna get caught and sent to jail again!"
"Excuse me but who hell are you?"  You and Romano both looked at the old woman sitting in front of you.

"M-me?" you asked dumbly.
"No, obvious the rack of spice behind you."  You were absolutely stunned.  This woman was just as rude as Romano.  She had a thick accent and terrible grammar, but the fact that she could put together a somewhat coherent sentence and in fluent sarcasm was stunning.  You looked at Romano, then back at the woman and then back at Romano, unsure of what you should do.
"L-lovi?  What do I do?"  He had said not to disrespect anyone older than you, but it was going to be difficult not to.  But you were saved because now it was the old woman's turn to be shocked.

"God damn it, I told you not to call me that, you stupid girl!"
"You call him Lovino?  He tells you his human name?"  You looked back to the old woman whose wrinkled face had softened.  She stood up slowly and leaned forward over the table.
"Y-yes?"  You weren't sure how your answer would affect the woman's actions.  You were expecting a slap to the face or maybe even a punch, so you were surprised when she reached over and pulled you into a bear hug.

"Then you're as one of the family!"  she laughed.  You were really confused and going through a bit of emotional whiplash at that moment.  Romano mumbled something, but as you were pre-occupied with fighting to breathe, you didn't quite hear him.  Finally the old woman, who smelt strongly of tomato sauce and parmesean cheese, let you go.  For a moment you had trouble standing, and practically fell on top of Romano.  He quickly pushed you off of him and continued speaking in English with the woman.

"I just wanted you to be the first to know when we arrived.  Are things any better here?"
"Eh, they are the same.  But with the money you give me, they may get better."
Romano sighed and ran his hand through his hair.  "God damn it!  Those stupid politician assholes make me so upset!"  He began grumbling about their salaries.  The old woman simply looked at the table knowingly.  Finally she broke in with a lighter subject.
"So Lovino, who is your lady friend?"  You immediately blushed at being brought up again.  Romano, caught off guard, started waving his hands arond rapidly and speaking in Italian.  The old woman just laughed and continued speaking in English.

"Is there the one you were telling me much about over the telephone?  The artist girl?"
More Italian flew out of Romano's mouth and he glanced nervously at you.  He then glared at the old woman.
"Roma, it's rude to not introduce people who not met before this."  You could see Romano's jaw clench at his nickname, but he did turn and introduce the old woman to you.
"________, this is Annetta; she's like the leader of this town. Annetta, this is ______, the girl I've been traveling with."  Annetta got up again to shake your hand.  Once she had ahold of it, she pulled you in for the customary greeting of a kiss on each cheek.
"All friends of Roma, they are friends here,"  then she turned to Romano and said, "In another way, Your older brother is here."

"FUCK.  Which one? Never mind, it doesn't matter.  Where is he staying?  We'll be sure to avoid that part of town."
"I want to meet him!  I only thought you had a little brother!"
"Two.  He has two little brothers."
"Two?  You only talk about Veneziano, who's the other one?"
"Seborga.  He's a micronation, so he never fucking does anything though."  Since Romano didn't want to be anymore help, you questioned Annetta about his family as she guided you two out of her store and down the street.
"What's his older brother's name?"
"Spain.  Well at least the one who's here.  His other older brother is France."  
"But thinking of brothers, Veneziano..."  Her smile grew wider.
"You didn't."
"Yes, I called and said to him that you would be down here for a time.  He had much worry about you."
"Stupid little brother can't even check the god damn answering machine," Romano said under his breath.
"He be here tonight he said."  Romano groaned and looked up at the sky as he passed his hand over his forhead.
"Looks like you're meeting my family after all, ______."
"It's exciting!  Isn't it?"
"And I guess it's better having Spain here than that wine-loving-bastard."  You giggled and Annetta chuckled with you.
  
"We turn here."  Annetta led you two into the heart of the little village where several small children were running and screaming at each other.  "You won't mind staying in Carlo's summer house, no?"  Romano shook his head.
"Carlo's house will be more than fine.  Thank you, Annetta."
"Ay, Romano!"  A cheerful masculine voice called from within a group of children.  Romano froze stiff.
"Romano!  Roma! Look!  It's big brother Spain!"  The voice called out again.  Suddenly a tall very tan young man broke free of the little kids, ran and tackled Romano right in front of you.
"Fucking get off of me you ass!  What the hell!"  Romano desperately tried to push this new man, who was rubbing his and Romano's cheeks together, off of him, but failed miserably.

"I'm guessing that's Romano's big brother?" you asked Annetta.
"Yes, it is.  Spain, let go of Lovino please."  Spain let go and Romano staggered for a moment.  Spain finally noticed you and you got your first good look at him.  He was breathtaking.  he was perfectly tan, with big bright green eyes and a genuine smile that looked like it hardly ever left his face.
"Ohhhh!  This must be Roma's new girl, eh!  I didn't think she'd be so pretty!  Roma, can you find me a girl too?"
"S-sorry, but I'm not Romano's girl," you said raising your arms defensively.  Your face felt hot.  Spain grabbed you hands and pulled them down so they were hanging in between you.
"In that case, you chould come and visit my house!"  Your face got hotter and you started trying formulate a response.  He was just so earnest and innocent about it.  Plus he was beautiful and charming.

"B-but I just met you! Sorry!"
"Ah, man!  Well, it was worth a try!" He only looked downtrodden for a second before lunging back to Romano.  He smiled brightly and began speaking Spanish at a dizzying pace to Romano.  You were shocked to hear Romano reply fluently, as if it were nothing.  Spain looked at you, looked at Romano, who was as red as ever, and then laughed like he'd heard a great joke.  You turned to Annetta for an explanation to which she replied.
"Spanish is not a thing I speak."
"Lovi~!  Are you staying in Carlo's place?" Spain asked happily.
"Unfortunately."
"Yeah! Then it'll be just like old times! You can sleep with me again!"

You didn't know whether that was cute or disturbing.  Annetta said she'd see you at dinner and then made her way back to her shop.  Spain helped you and Romano with your stuff.  He tried to bring Romano's things into his room, but Romano freaked out.
"Hey, bastard!  What are you doing! My room's over here!"
"But you're gonna sleep with Spain like when you were my henchman!"  You had decided that it was cute that Spain wanted to share a bed with his little brother, so you giggled when you saw Romano's face.  This earned you a death glare. Romano solved the problem by snatching his bags from Spain's hands, storming off to his own room, and slamming the door behind him.

Spain looked like he would cry.  His bottom lip was pushed out ever so slightly and his pout was perfect.  He just made you want to hug him and tell him everything would be okay.
"S-spain?  You okay"  He looked up.
"H-Huh?  Oh, yeah.  I guess Roma's all grown up and doesn't need to sleep with boss anymore," he sighed, "and I was looking forward to it!"  You weren't entirely sure of how to respond to that, so you decided that It would probably be best to change the subject.
"So you're Romano and Veneziano's big brother?"
"Oh, Have you met Ita Pequita?"
"No, but Romano talks about him all the time.  And Ms. Annetta said he'd be coming tonight."
"Seriously?!  Both Italy brothers?" suddenly it seemed like Spain was off in his own world.  His eyes stared off into nowhere and his smile just got wider and wider and wider and-
"Spain?"
"Huh? What? Sorry."
"I was just wondering when dinner was."
"It's only five.  So...probably in about three hours."  You nodded, said good-bye and then retreated from the hallway into your room once you noticed that Spain was off in La-La Land again.

You sighed as you leaned on your door.  You were pretty tired, so after you unpacked your clothes, you decided that now was as good a time as any to take a quick nap.
You were awoken by things crashing, Romano screaming, and someone sobbing like a child.  You oppened your door and looked down the hallway only to find Romano yelling at someone who was sitting on the ground crying.

"God damn it all!  How many times have I told you that you'd stop running into things if you'd just fucking open your eyes!"
"I-I'm sorry!  It just hurts!" The man on the floor returned to crying  until he felt your stare on him.  He sniffed and looked up from the floor at you.  You were surprised at how much he resembled Romano.  His hair and skin was a litle lighter and his face wasn't set into a permanent scowl like Romano's was, but you knew almost as soon as you saw hm that it must be Veneziano.  The unmistakeable curl was there.  It had to be him.

"What a pretty girl!"  You had not been expecting such a response from someone who had been crying not even five seconds ago, but you weren't going to argue.  You couldn't stop the blood from rushing to your face.  Romano smacked his brother upside the head and started yelling in his native tounge.  They then proceeded to have a very heated conversation resulting in Italy getting off the floor and Romano leaning on the door frame to his room, completely aloof.  Veneziano approached you and introduced himself.
"Hello pretty girl, I'm Italia Veneziano!  It's a pleasure to meet you!"  He kissed you on both cheeks and started talking to you like you were best friends.
"So how's your travel with big brother been?  Has the food been good?  You're and artist, right?  I'll bet you think big brother is cute, don't you?"

Romano screamed something at his brother, losing his composure before storming up behind him, grabbing his collar, and saying it was time to help make dinner.  Italy started crying again and frantically saying things like, "but she's so cute!  I thought it was okay! Please don't hit me!  I'm sorry, Romano! I'm sorry!"  You just watched in utter shock and a bit of horror as the two disappeared down the hall.

Suddenly, Spain's door opened and he emerged, rubbing his eyes and yawning.  "What was all that racket?"
"I think Italy just got here.  And Romano's really angry with him."
"Huh?  Italy's here!"  Spain suddenly lost all his sleepiness and became fully animated again.  "Which way did they go?"
"To the kitchen."
"Don't worry Ita-Pequita!  Boss will save you!"  Spain hurried out of his room after his two younger brothers.
You were starting to understand why Romano hadn't wanted you to meet his family.
You heard Spain's voice call back to you.  "______!  Please come help with dinner!"
That didn't leave you much choice, so you followed his voice thourgh a couple of hallways and down a flight of stairs into the kitchen, where all three brothers already had on aporns and were slicing things.

"_____, Go cut up the eggplant."
"Aw, Romano, that's no way to treat a lady!" Spain said.  "I thought I taught you better!"
"You didn't fucking teach me anything except that for some reason, being a pedophile is okay!"  Spain reached over and grabbed Romano for a hug.
"It's okay, Romano, I know that you don't mean it!  You're just embarrassed by your family in front of your new girlfriend!"
"Wha-!"
"Roma!  I thought you said you weren't dating her," Italy commented obliviously.
"Both of you just shut the hell up!"
"Uhh, I'm right here, guys," you said as you waved at them.  They all kind of looked at you, Italy and Spain with their normal spacy expressions, and Romano with his now-expected pink cheeks.

"Sorry little ______!  Boss Spain as just absorbed in how jealous Belbel is going to be when she hears that Romano has a new girlfriend!"
"God damn it Spain!"
"Belbel?"
"Yeah, Miss Belgium!  She's so pretty!  Romano used to have a crush on her when he was little!" Italy commented.
"I still remember when he finally learned how to say 'give me a kiss' in Spanish, and the first thing he did with it was ask her for one!"  Spain laughed.  Romano was absolutely steaming.  You could tell that he was going to blow his top any second.

"And then when she agreed, he chickened out!"  And pop went Romano.  Tomatoes flew everywhere, making a huge mess.  No word was sacred.  Italy grabbed your arm and tugged you out the back door into a tiny back yard, which mainly consisted of a garden.
"That was close!  Romano got really mad, didn't he?"  You couldn't help but laugh.  When you'd finished, you started thinking about Spain's little story.  For some reason, you felt a little jealous of Miss Belgium.  You honestly didn't understand why, but you knew the feeling and were too mature to label it as anything else.

You and Italy got to know each other better in your short time in the tiny garden.  Mainly, he had asked your advice on how to get his friend Germany to fall in love with him, to which you had given a hesitant, "Uh, just go for it!"  It had kind of surprised you how he would just lay something like that out to someone he barely knew.  He had started picking some of the tomatoes, saying "Well if Romano is throwing all the tomatoes at Spain, there won't be any left for the food."

While Italy hummed and picked fruit, you just kind of thought about everything that had happened today.  It was then that you noticed that you hadn't even thought to question the idea of country representations.  For some reason, it just kind of made sense that the countries would all have their own human body, their own family.  Or maybe it was just the lack of sleep.  Italy disturbed your train of thought when he came up to you with his shirt holding the tomaotes like a basket.

"I think they're done fighting now.  Want to go in and help again?"  You nodded and followed Romano's good-natured borther back into the kitchen.  There was a bottle of wine on the table now, with the cork out.  There was also a huge pan full of bell peppers, onions, garlic, and other vegetables piled in it.  Spain was frantically stiring it while Romano sliced the eggplant you were supposed to have cut before the explosion.
"Why are we making so much food?" you asked.  Italy handed you an apron and dumped the brightly ripe tomatoes on the counter next to Spain.

"Oh, thank you Ita!  This is just what we needed for the sofrita!  Huh?  Oh, well everytime one of us visits this town, there's a little celebration, you know?"
"Oh, that's nice!"  It seemed like such a hospitable, friendly thing to do.  You were kind of excited to see what it would be like.
"Yeah, great, spending their hard earned money on us in an unnecessary way," Romano replied in a sarcastic tone.

"Aw, I think it's nice!" Italy sad happily.  "I love parties.  I only wish Germany was here."
"Like that fucking stick in the mud would ever even..."  The rest of his comment was lost in Spain and Italy's lively conversation about Italy's love life.  You quietly chopped the tomatoes as Italy washed them, trying to imagine what the party would be like.