Ciao Hetalia fans and welcome to my new story! This is my first real venture into the Spamano fandom as well as my first multi-chapter Hetalia story! I'm very excited since I'm writing for one of my favorite Hetalia couples EVER! I hope you enjoy :D

General Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia; if I did, I'd have enough money to cosplay (looks longingly at outfits on eBay). I also own nothing recognizable within the story, I am writing this purely for my enjoyment~ Oh yeah, and do you see that rockin' picture I have for my cover image? Yeah...that's not mine either. Trust me, if I could actually draw, I'd be abusing my bragging rights X3

Rated T because this is Romano we're talking about and any story with him is automatically rated PG-13 XD

One more thing: this story does NOT have pedophilia! Chibi Romano and Spain aren't getting together! It's says EVENTUAL Spamano on the summary so that means that it will happen EVENTUALLY when Romano is, oh I don't know, grown up and not an adorable little kid chibi! Stuff like that's not my thing so I'd like to clarify that now, just in case anyone's confused XP

So without further ado, enjoy~ :)

"That stupid jerk Spain isn't back yet!" Chibi Romano huffed as he glanced at the calendar hanging in the room. It's been several months since his caretaker set out on a boat to explore the New World on the orders of his King. His mission was to explore the uncharted territory and to bring back any riches, preferably silver since there was talk that other explorers have made their fortune by finding bits of it in mines.

As a result, Romano was left in Spain's ginormous mansion by himself with a few servants to watch out for him, and he was under strict instructions to not wander off and to keep up on his chores.

Like hell he was going to do that.

Chibi Romano defiantly refused to clean up and tried to leave to see his little brother Veneziano a couple of times, only to be stopped by Spain's stupid guards. After numerous attempts of leaving were forcibly halted, Romano resigned himself to doing as he pleased as revenge, not bothering with his duties. Eventually though as time went on, he got bored and actually tried his hand at cleaning…until his clumsiness made things messier and his frustration won out.

Nowadays, he spent his time eating pizza, picking tomatoes from the garden, striving to learn Spanish (not because he wanted to! He just wanted to prove to that jerk Spain that he could actually learn!), and just roaming the halls aimlessly out of worry…annoyance for his caretaker's long absence.

"He should've been back ages ago!" Chibi Romano grouched to the empty room. "Who the hell does he think he is, leaving some helpless little kid in a big house all alone?! I hope he gets attacked by Indians!" The thought of the tomato bastard getting attacked by hostile natives got his little heart to race out of fear and his stomach to twist in an unsettling manner, but he waved it off as indigestion. "Stupid cook doesn't know how to make a real pizza!"

Letting out a little growl, Romano decided that staring at the calendar wasn't going to bring Spain back faster (not that he wanted him back! He's just…he was just that bored, dammit! He needed someone to entertain him!) so he wandered out into the garden. He grabbed a basket and strolled into the vast rows of vivid green fields that held ripe, passionate-red tomatoes.

Little Lovino spent a great deal of time plucking the delicious fruit off of slender vines, his tiny fingers delicately brushing the plants in silent appreciation, and placing them into the basket. Occasionally if one looked especially delectable, he'd eat it and was calmed by the familiarity of its sweet, unique taste. It reminded him of the hellhole he started to view as home, aka Spain's super huge mansion.

A couple of hours passed and Chibi Romano brought back baskets and baskets of tomatoes that could make dozens of jars worth of tomato sauce. After a while, he heard an excited commotion come from within the house and saw servants, gardeners, and guards rush inside, looking surprised yet thrilled.

The boy raised an eyebrow, but shrugged it off. They're probably happy over something stupid anyways. He continued grabbing tomatoes for a few minutes until he got the sense that he wasn't alone anymore.

"Hola Romano~"

Lovino froze, dropped his basket of tomatoes, and turned around slowly, unable to believe that he was hearing that familiar voice after missing it (uh…blissfully not hearing it) for several long months. His hazel orbs widened as he took in the sight of Spain standing nearby, wearing his usual conquistador garb and armor that gave off a somewhat commanding, menacing vibe yet completely contrasted with his friendly, vibrant lush-green eyes that gazed at him now.

For a moment the two stood in silence, Romano frozen in utter disbelief, until Spain broke it. He smiled a bit wider and remarked, "Don't I get a hello?" He then approached his henchman and knelt down in front of him. He noted the basket of tomatoes and beamed. "Oh, you're picking tomatoes! I'm so proud of you, pequeño!"

Lovino finally snapped out of his daze, and the first thing he could think of doing was glaring at the man before him and punching him in his stupid smiling face. Antonio seemed more surprised by the blow than hurt, and Romano followed it up by a series of small punches against the other's armored chest. "You're back, you stupid jerk! How could you leave me here all alone and not even think about writing to me?! For all I know you could've been hurt or dead or eaten by bears and I wouldn't have known and I would've been stuck here forever! Your stupid guards wouldn't let me out to see my stupid brother so I was trapped in this stupid house doing nothing but wondering where stupid you was and if you found any stupid silver or whatever stupid thing your stupid boss wanted you to get!"

As Chibi Romano rambled on and on about Spain's 'stupidity', the young man looked down at his colony in wonder, and it dawned on him: Romano had been worried about him. The thought warmed his chest, and he let out a hearty little chuckle. That got Lovino to stop flinging out his fists, and he glowered up at his caretaker. "What are you laughing at, bastard?! You think it's funny that you neglected me?! You jerk…hey, hey what do you think you're doing?!" The Italian let out an angry noise as Spain swept the child in his arms and swung him around, hugging him close.

"Oh Romano, you're so cute," Antonio cooed with delight. "I am sorry that I didn't write to you; I was so busy and I figured you wouldn't want to hear from me anyways-"

"I didn't," Lovino immediately declared, folding his little arms over his chest. "I was just wondering if you got killed by Indians after all! If you did, then I wouldn't have to listen to you boss me around anymore! Now put me down, bastard!"

An ecstatic sound emitted from Spain as he gently put the boy down. "I missed you too, chico~"

"I never said I missed you, dammit! Where did you get a stupid idea like that?!"

Spain chuckled again and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Nowhere." His right hand shuffled through his pocket before clutching something. "I brought you something, Romano."

The little Italian narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "It better not be scurvy or fleas or small pox!"

Another warm chuckle vibrated from within the Spaniard's chest. "Oh no, nothing like that, silly~ Here, catch." He pulled out something from his pocket and tossed it to his young charge. The dark bronze-haired boy clumsily caught it and nearly dropped it. He glared when Spain suppressed a laugh rather poorly and glanced down at the object in his hands.

It looked like a rock, yet it had an interesting texture; one of the first things that caught Romano's eye was the faint, barely noticeable scratch that extended about an inch. The object was slightly smaller than his already miniature fist and was somewhat light, probably not even a pound. The rock-like structure was dark grey with specks of dazzling pieces of a lighter grey that sparkled in a certain light.

After staring at it for a few seconds, Romano deemed the rock as dissatisfactory and wrinkled his little nose with distaste. "Why the hell would you bring me back a stupid rock?! We have hundreds out here!" He swept an arm around the garden.

Spain smiled with fondness and replied, "There was no way that I couldn't bring it. When I saw it, I thought of you."

"Are you trying to say that you think of me as a stupid rock?!"

"No, no not at all. Look at it closer—it's no mere rock."

Lovino frowned and glared down at the rock, trying to find anything significant. All that stood out to him was that dumb little scratch and the freckles of unusually shiny grey dots…

His eyes widened. "This is a piece of silver."

Spain beamed with approval. "Sí, it is! Very good! I always knew you were smart!"

Romano immediately took offense to that. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing, just that you are muy inteligente, mijo~" When Romano raised an eyebrow in confusion, Spain sighed. "I was hoping you'd learn a bit of Spanish while I was gone, but I also figured I shouldn't get my hopes up too high."

The Italian child flushed with a mixture of anger and embarrassment but decided to let it go (luckily for Spain) in favor of looking down at the small chunk of silver. Though Romano wasn't too familiar with money and riches, he knew well enough that this could be worth a fortune. "Why would you give this to me?"

"Because it reminds me of you, Romano! Silver is very hard to find, but when you do, you learn that it was well worth the search because of how valuable it is. Though to some this piece may not look like much at first glance, if you look at it closer, you discover that it's something truly special. You and this little slab have all that in common, Romano," he leaned forward to press the younger's hands so that his fingers could close around the rock of silver, "never forget that."

For a while, Chibi Romano was speechless. Not once during his time with this jerk has Spain ever said anything especially nice to him like this; sure he was kind and cordial to him, but he never said anything so complimentary and genuine before. Actually, no one's told him something like that before ever; comments like that were usually reserved for Veneziano.

Now that he was faced with such loving words, he wasn't sure how to react. So he naturally reacted the only way he knew how. He turned a bright red and got furious. "What the hell do you mean by all that, you creep! You just don't go around telling little kids stuff like that—it's weird! Now out of my way, I'm going to my room so I won't have to see your ugly face! Don't think of following me!" And with that, he picked up the discarded basket of tomatoes and stomped away in a huff, smoke practically coming out of his ears.

Spain watched him go with a smile and quietly laughed. Believe it or not, I've missed that.

Meanwhile, Romano stormed to his room and flopped himself onto his bed. He inhaled the scent of freshly washed sheets and figured that the maids must've cleaned them recently. After laying there for a while, just wrapping his mind around the fact that Spain had returned safe and sound and embracing it (err…begrudging accepting it, that is), Romano eventually lifted his head up and tried to figure out what the light, ticklish feeling in his stomach was. It couldn't be happiness and relief…could it?

…No, it couldn't be because that would mean that Romano actually missed that bastard and was worried for him…which he wasn't!

The chibi child eyed the basket of tomatoes he brought with him. Maybe he was hungry…yeah that had to be it. Little Lovino sat himself up and was about to reach into the basket when something stopped him. He found himself turning his attention to the rock of silver in his hand. He stared down at it and furrowed his brow. That jerk Spain had no idea what he was talking about when he said it was a lot like Romano. He was probably trying to soften him up and guilt him into doing his chores. Lovino growled at the thought. Like hell that was going to work. Stupid tomato bastard.

…Still, that doesn't mean that Chibi Romano couldn't hang onto the chunk for a while…at least until he was old enough to trade it in for money and use it to buy his independence or something. Who knows, it might even give him that edge that will make him richer than Spain someday.

…Yup, that's why he decided to keep it in the end instead of giving into the temptation of tossing it out. Not because he liked it or that he appreciated that Spain was nice enough to think of him and cared enough about him to bring him such a wonderful treasure.

Nope, that definitely wasn't the reason.

Chibi Romano is so adorable~ I love watching episodes with him and Boss Spain X3

Anyways, I hope this wasn't too slow a start. Initially this was supposed to be a one-shot, but then my insatiable appetite for details kicked in and it got longer. This is going to end up about 6-7 chapters, more or less. So yeah, it's going to be a fairly short story.

Believe it or not, I got this idea not too long ago when I started my history course in college. We were learning about colonization in the New World (little America and Canada and Mexico!) and of course Spain came up. Then I got to thinking about Hetalia since it's a given for any fan to spazz out in history class once they associate the country with the character in the anime (~^o^)~

There's going to be a few more historical references along the way, but not too many. If I happen to get them wrong, don't hesitate to tell me, and I'll fix them~ Thanks for reading and stick around for more :D

Translations:

Spanish

Hola-hello

pequeño-little one

chico-boy/kid (Spain's using it in a friendly manner, though, not out of disrespect)

Sí-yes

muy inteligente-very intelligent/smart

mijo-my boy (term of endearment among family)