A/N: … So, you know what they say about starting a new story… But I made a promise! See, I found this neat little roleplaying site, and, well… Awesome things happened! And so, this story (and this pairing…) was born!

Dedicated to Sadi, aka the RPer for Turkey on the awesome RP site 'World Paradise Hetalia'~!

I don't own Hetalia or any of its characters!

Prologue: A Note from our Narrator

Ciao. My name is Lovino Vargas, but that's not usually what I'm called. Most people know me as Romano, Italy's Brother, or Asshole. But I'm not here to talk about most people. And good riddance, since I doubt most of them want to talk about me, either.

Anyway, I've had a long, hard life, but I won't bore you with my sob story here, as most of my past is exposed throughout the story I'm about to narrate to you. As you'll find, I'm not exactly sociable, and I'm not going to censor myself for the likes of you—I say what I mean (ok, unless I'm being defensive, but shut up, dammit!), and I'm not sorry about it either.

…

However, I'm not a bad guy…

I may be rude and cynical, but I'm not evil or sadistic or cruel.

… I guess maybe you're wondering what it is I am going to tell you about, if it's not most people I know or my past (although both do crop up, at points). Well…

I'm going to tell you about something a little more recent in my life. Something that changed a lot of things for me, even though it started out as something I was sure was just another unlucky day in the life of Lovino Vargas.

It all started with a kidnapping. And no, despite the skeptical glares you're probably giving me, I didn't kidnap someone. Chigi… I was the one who was kidnapped. And, though it might seem kind of strange to someone else, being kidnapped has been kind of a normal occurrence for me since my childhood.

Austria, Spain, France … Well, you get used to it.

And there was this one bastard who just wouldn't give up…

… But I won't talk about that now.

Anyway… I think, more than anything else, my story will be about a person. A single, seemingly insignificant person in a sea of people—one nation among hundreds.

A person I've feared, hated, respected…

And now… Maybe even care for.

A person to whom I was not known by any of the names and titles I produced at the beginning of this passage.

A person who called me Romeo.