Oh lawdy, time for more Hetalia fluff! This time around it's Spain/Romano high school AU. For reference, Joshua is HRE and Carolina is Belgium. There's a brief cameo of my Ireland and Northern Ireland OCs, but blink and you'll miss it. Warnings for Lovino's incredible vocabulary. Read on!

Driver's Ed

The bell rang through the school, signaling the end of the day. Students flooded out of their classrooms and onto the quad, ready for the weekend to begin. Day students said their goodbyes and caught their rides, and boarding students grabbed rides with friends to go off campus for the afternoon while others retreated back to the dorms. One small group in particular was walking to the parking lot.

"Lovino, you sure you don't want to come us Joshua and I?" the younger of the Italian twins was saying, "Carolina's even giving us a ride!"

Lovino, the older of the two, simply scowled at the German boy walking next to his brother. "If that bastard's going, you can count me out!" he snarled.

Carolina put a comforting hand on the sophomore's shoulder, but he shrugged it off. "Lovino, Joshua hasn't done anything wrong," she said, "Try not to be rude—Feliciano's really happy with him." They watched Feliciano and Joshua walk on ahead, Feliciano smiling like the lovesick moron he was. He took Joshua's hand in his, and although the German boy's cheeks flushed pink, he didn't pull away.

Lovino spat on the ground and frowned. "Stupid Feli doesn't know what he's getting into," he grumbled, "That Joshua idiot's messing with his head!"

Carolina gave Lovino a quick hug. "You'll understand sooner or later," she said with a smile.

Lovino only glared at her. "You're just a junior, what do you know?"

Carolina laughed and replied, "You'll see when you're an upperclassman, people grow up fast. Most people I don't know about you," she added with a laugh. She said a quick goodbye and ran off to catch up with Joshua and Feliciano, who were already at her car.

Lovino shoved his hands in his pockets, scowling at the car as it drove away toward the school entrance. He kicked at the gravel. "Fuck it… who needs to go out on a weekend, anyway?" Wrapping his coat tighter around him against the cool autumn air, he started back toward the dorms. He had better things to do, like try out those new video games his grandfather sent him. Well, sent Feli, anyway—Lovino was just good at picking the dorm room locks. His brother didn't know what he was missing, going out with that stupid Joshua and leaving him stuck at school.

He pushed open the door to his dorm, nicknamed the Teapot for its short, fat shape and because of its crazed British dormitory head, Mr. Kirkland. He trudged through the common room like his feet were made of lead. One of the freshmen—Lovino remembered his name was Raivis—was talking to an obnoxious boy Lovino did not recognize. "Come on, let's go! My dad's waiting for us!"

"I-I don't know if I should go, Peter," Raivis stuttered, "I've never gone off campus without family, the teachers will get mad—"

"The teachers don't care!" the other boy said, pulling Raivis out the door with him, "Let's grab something to eat, I'm starved!"

"Tch," Lovino grouched as he walked up the stairs to the second floor, "Damn morons." He unlocked his dorm room door and threw his backpack on this bed. Joshua was the worst fucking roommate he could've gotten stuck with, he'd gone and cleaned Lovino's space again. He kicked his bed, frustrated. Then, as if realizing something, he knelt down and reached under his bed, praying his secret stash was still there. He felt around until he found a small box and dragged it out into the middle of the room. Lovino carefully lifted the lid and peered inside. "Fuck!" he shouted, throwing the empty box against the wall. A note written in Joshua's neat script handwriting spelling out that tomatoes were not allowed in the dorms, because they attracted rats, fluttered to the floor.

Livid, Lovino picked up the note and tore it to shreds, letting the pieces float back down onto the carpet. He flopped onto his bed and buried his face in his pillows. He could just sleep away the weekend, right here. For a long time, he lay curled up on his bed staring at the wall. He might have nodded off for a bit, because the clock on his desk jumped forward an hour when he opened his eyes. His stomach growled, and Lovino remembered he hadn't had much lunch that day. Alfred was trying to get his football team started again, and Lovino had spent most of his precious lunch period hiding from him the Italian lazily dragged himself off his bed and out the door to the dining hall.

Lovino arrived at the cafeteria just in time to see the staff taking away the fruit bowls. The boy's eyes widened in horror as they fell upon a few shiny red tomatoes nestled in among the fruit as it was carried off. "Shit," he mumbled, sulked and slamming open the doors to go out into the chilly quad again. He plodded over to the green and crashed under a tree, eyes shifting around to watch the other students who were stuck on campus like he was. A little redheaded middle school student ran across the quad, shouting profanities at his sister as she chased him. Lovino recognized her as Joan Kirkland, his lab partner. "Shit," he muttered again, pressing himself against the tree and hoping she would pass him by—that girl gave a whole new meaning to the term "Irish temper". Thankfully, she ran by without noticing him.

Lovino got up again once the Irish siblings had gone and wandered around the quad. "Where the fuck is everybody?" he grumbled, kicking a small rock and watching it skitter down the path. He walked out into the parking lot, maybe someone had come back. Not that he was lonely, of course, he was perfectly fine hanging out by himself.

At that moment, a loud car horn honked and Lovino instinctively dived into a bush to hide. A care engine roared into the parking lot and a shiny red convertible parked in front of Lovino's hiding place. "Goddamn it," Lovino muttered, trying to hide even deeper in the huge rhododendron bush. He knew who it was, but the boy prayed he would just go way.

Who should bound out of the car, all sunshine and smiles, but Antonio Carriedo. Dressed in his soccer jersey and old jeans, he whirled about in search of something, or someone. "Lovino!" he sang, fixing his gaze on the rhododendron bush and almost dancing over. He raised an eyebrow and smiled into the branches. "I know you're in there somewhere, Lovi! Wait for it, I'll find you!" Lovino curled up tighter under the shadow of the branches, staring horrified at Antonio's shoes. His eyes got wider and wider as they inched closer, stepping into the bush. Suddenly, Antonio pushed apart the branches and dropped down into the bush, grinning and eyes bright. "Found you!" he said cheerfully.

"Fuck off!" Lovino shrieked, scooting backwards farther into the bush.

"Aw, Lovi, don't do that! You'll get all covered in dirt!" Antonio chirped, crawling under the branches and reaching out to Lovino.

"Don't care!" Lovino shouted, "Goddamn it, go away!"

"I haven't seen you in a whole month, and this is what I get for a hello?" Antonio said, idiotic smile still spread across his face. He reached up and tugged playfully on Lovino's flyaway curl.

Lovino turned bright red and stumbled out of the bush, shouting, "Jesus, you idiot! Don't touch that!" He tried to calm himself and hoped his deep red blush would go away fore Antonio could notice it.

Antonio stood up and climbed out of the rhododendron. "Same old Lovino," he laughed, "Your face is red as a tomato!"

"I-Is not!"

"Hey, speaking of tomatoes, I've got a surprise for you!"

Lovino's ears perked up at the mention of his favorite food. This was the only part of Antonio's visits he looked forward to. It's not like seeing the Spanish boy brightened his day or anything.

Antonio noticed his interest and his smile was back even stronger than before. "I got us a reservation for dinner! Italian, your favorite, and it's really good so it might be just as good as food in Italy, and—"

"Quit rambling like that, you idiot," Lovino grumbled, pushing past him and stomping over to the car. It really was a nice car, Lovino thought. At least, it would've been nice if it didn't belong to that moron. He walked around ot the passenger door and was about it climb in when Antonio suddenly snuck up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist in an intimate hug. "You have your permit, right?" he asked, lifting up and hand and jangling the keys he was holding in his fingers, "You drive."

Lovino stood frozen where he was, clasping the shiny keys in his hand until Antonio finally let go of him and climbed into the passenger seat. The heat was rising in his face, his cheeks were burning, and he was ever so thankful that Antonio was in the car and could not see his face. He practically ran around to the other side of the car and got behind the wheel.

He gripped the wheel until his knuckles turned white and glared out at the parking lot. Antonio smiled and nodded at the ignition. "We going, Lovi?"

"What the hell? Of course we are," Lovino grumbled, jamming the keys in the ignition and turning the car on. He stared out at the parking lot again, his cheeks burning. Antonio opened his mouth to say something, but Lovino cut him off and shouted, "I know how the drive a fucking car, goddamn it! Don't fucking tell me how!" He slammed down on the gas pedal and the car lurched forward. Antonio jumped in his seat and grabbed onto the armrest as the car sailed out of the lot and down the main campus road.

"L-Lovi, you're going a little fast, aren't you?"

"No way, my grandpa drives way faster than this, it's fine!"

The car swung out onto the road and swayed dangerously as it righted itself in the lane. Lovino scowled at the car in front of him and honked the horn. "Outta the way!" he yelled.

Antonio tried his best to remain optimistic, but his pale face betrayed his worry. "L-Lovi, pay attention to the speed limit…"

"I would if this stupid guy would stop blocking the road!"

The car lurched forward and Antonio yelped in horror, grabbing at the door handle, the arm rest, anything to make the ride less precarious. "D-Don't hit that—"

"Sh-Shit!" Lovino screamed as the car swerved around a car abd careened off the road and into a bush. Lovino shrieked as branches dragged across the car, screeching and clawing at the glass. Antonio grabbed at the wheel.

"Break! Break!" he squeaked. Lovino stomped down on the break and jolted forward as the car came to a halt.

The two of them sat in silence for a moment, the whoosh of the cars breezing by behind them. Lovino shrank down into the driver's seat, not daring to look over at Antonio. His chest felt tight and his face was hot in shame. His new shiny convertible, and Lovino'd totaled it in minutes of his first drive.

Laughter. Lovino's ears perked up; was Antonio… laughing? Cautiously, Lovino looked up through his dark brown hair to see that Antonio was, indeed, laughing. It was a nice, light sound, it sounded like… sunshine. Lovino mentally kicked himself and tried to hide the blush rising in his cheeks—how the hell could anything sound like sunshine? This whole afternoon was just getting stupider by the minute.

Antonio kept laughing and smiled so brightly Lovino's gut twisted up. He slung an arm around Lovino's shoulders and mussed up his hair, planted a kiss on his head. Lovino was so confused and mortified that he didn't even react. "Aw Lovi, no need to get upset! Look at that, barely even a scratch," he said.

Lovino just kept staring straight ahead, shaking in his seat like a child fearing his parent's punishment.

Antonio's expression softened and he quieted down. "How about I drive?" he said with another, gentler smile. Lovino just passed him the keys and climbed out fo the car to switch places.

The restaurant of choice was a small, family-owned place, and even Lovino could not deny their Italian food was very good. The accident hadn't left him in the best mood, though. "This bolognese sucks," he grumbled, pushing his pasta around his plate.

"S-Sorry," Antonio stammered sheepishly, slight disappointment in his voice. Damn, could nothing faze him?

"Damn right you should be sorry!" Lovino snapped, "You're from freaking Spain! You of all people should know what fucking good food is!"

"Didn't you live in Spain, too, for a while—"

"Shut up!"

Antonio fell obediently silent, and Lovino's chest tightened even more at the pained look in his eyes. He clenched his fists and bit his lip; the food really was good here, and he was happy to see Antonio but how did he say—there he went again! How was he turning into such a goddamn sap? It was probably that bug going around school, a lot of people had been getting sick lately. That must be it. Still, despite any illness he may or may not have caught at school, he twirled some pasta on his fork and ate it guiltily.

"How's school going?" Antonio piped up again, "Sophomore year's great."

Lovino looked away and carefully chewed his food. It really was a nice little place—he'd have to tell his grandpa about it the next time he had time to take Lovino and Feliciano out somewhere. That is, if Grandpa remembered to take Lovino and not just treat Feliciano like last time. He finished eating and said, "Guess it's okay. Feliciano's being a stupid, clueless ass like always."

"Oh, Feli? How is he?" Antonio asked excitedly, "God, I really miss him, he's so adorable—ahem. Sorry. Again," he fizzled out under another withering stare from Lovino. He looked like Mt. Vesuvius as it was about to blow its top.

"Anyway," he continued dangerously, "The new dorm's pretty cool. It's the Teapot, so Mr. Kirkland is kinda a jackass RA sometimes. And that fucker Joshua is my roommate."

"Joshua? That kid from Vienna?"

"Yeah, Feliciano's like the stupidest asshole ever around him, it's like no one else fucking exists but him!"

That sunshine-bright smile again. Lovino had the urge to punch that grin off his face, but something held him back. Guilt? Or the gut feeling that if he hit him, it'd be like he was hurting himself, too? Fuck it. Antonio practically sang, "Oh, it's got to be love! Love's the best feeling in the world, y'know."

"No," Lovino said, "I wouldn't fucking know."

Antonio looked as if he'd been shot in the heart and Lovino felt so guilty he was afraid for a moment he would get physically ill. This was the stupidest fucking conversation ever.

The waitress brought the check and Antonio counted out the bills to pay, laying them down on the table in resignation and disappointment. Lovino couldn't wait to be back at the Teapot and curled up in his bed. Movie night sounded like a good idea, he hadn't watched The Godfather in a while.

They were quiet on the drive back to HIA, Antonio wearing an unnaturally stoic expression and Lovino nervously biting his lip. Was there nothing he could do to fix this terrible day? He was going to return to school, get shitty grades, get snubbed by Joshua and Feliciano, and Grandpa Julius would continue to ignore him. All as Antonio returned to college only to return God knows when. He was starting to panic as the lights of the campus came into view and Antonio turned off onto the main school road. Soon he'd be alone again… he didn't want to be alone. Not anymore.

The car pulled into the student parking lot, sporting two or three thin scratches in the paint from Lovino's encounter with the bush. It looked as sad and let down as its passengers. Antonio got out and Lovino silently followed suit. They slowly began their walk back to the Teapot, and Lovino's gait for stiffer and slower until he was standing still in the middle of the path. He stared angrily down at the pavement and his shadow cast by the lampposts lining the path.

Antonio kept walking a few steps further before looking around to see Lovino frozen in the path. "…Lovino? Something the matter?" he asked, smiling quietly and walking back to him.

Lovino squeezed his eyes shut tight and balled up his fists. It was too embarrassing, he didn't want to be out here where anyone could see them—but the dorm would be a hell of a lot worse, damn it. Antonio reached him and played a hand on his shoulder, worried. "Lovi, don't be upset, I—"

Before what little courage he had left him, Lovino looked up and planted a swift kiss on Antonio's lips. He crossed his arms and burned a hole in the sidewalk with an angry glare. He could run away right now and hide in his dorm, he'd never have to deal with this moron ever again—

A warm pair of arms carefully wrapped themselves around Lovino, and every muscle in his body froze up. He ducked his head again, but eventually lifted his gaze, curious to see the damage done.

Antonio was glowing. Even in the dim light of the lampposts he was brilliant and light, smiling wider than he had all day. He hugged Lovino closer, totally ignoring the younger boy's conflict.

Lovino pulled away and shut his eyes tight. His face felt hot, and he knew Antonio could see it. This was a really fucking bad idea, Antonio was getting all worked up and was going to start getting all gushy. "Why the fuck're you getting all weird?" he said, voice shaky and faltering, "I-I'm just thanking you for dinner! I'm fucking Italian, it's what we do!"

"Yeah, but even if we're both European I know a kiss when I see it—or get it," he added with a wink, "I guess by your logic, because I'm Spanish."

"Sh-Shut up! I didn't fucking do anything!"

But he couldn't continue his tirade, because at that moment Antonio pressed his lips to Lovino's. Lovino felt like he was suddenly made of paper, lightheaded and flimsy enough for a slight breeze to blow him away. Antonio wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. He smelled sweet, like flowers and grass in summer. It made Lovino's head spin. He lost his handle on time, and it felt like hours before he broke away to catch his breath.

Antonio started to smiled again, but stopped. He reached up and ran his thumb over Lovino's cheek. It came away wet. "Lovino…? You're crying."

Lovino's fist shot up and he hastily wiped his eyes. When had that started? He didn't even have anything to cry over! He glanced over his shoulder back towards the parking lot and squeaked out, "I-I totaled your car! Your new car, and it's a really nice car, and I really fucked it up!"

Antonio just looked at him for a moment. Lovino wanted to turn heel and book it back to his dorm. He was really crying now, but he still didn't fucking know why! He was about to spout more nonsense about the car when something even worse happened: Antonio started laughing. Lovino's heart sank and he angrily wiped his eyes with the back of his wrist. "Stop fucking laughing at me!" he shouted.

Antonio kept on laughing, but managed to calm down enough to say, "Aw Lovi, I'm not laughing at you! You're just too cute!" He grinned wide and tried to wrap Lovino up in another hug, who squeaked and shoved him away. "You're not really crying about the car," he said flatly, suddenly serious.

Lovino looked at the ground and scowled. "Well not like I'll miss that car anyway—or you."

Antonio stayed where he was for a moment, then a flash of understanding crossed his face and he reached out to rest his palm on Lovino's cheek. "I'll be back here soon, don't worry your cute little head off."

That did it. Lovino vaguely considered pulling away from Antonio's touch, but for some stupid reason he stayed where he was. It was getting tiring, always yelling and cursing and pushing people away. Slowly, gingerly, he reached up and wrapped his arms around Antonio's neck, hugging him and resting his head on his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut—was he doing this right? Not like he really knew what he was doing here. Antonio wound his arms around Lovino's waist again and buried his face in the Italian boy's copper hair. The two stayed like that for a long moment, just standing in the glow of the lamppost on the sidewalk.

Lovino shuddered as Antonio's lips brushed against his ear. He ran his hand through Lovino's hair and held his hand behind his neck, supporting him as he leaned in for another deep kiss. This time, Lovino kissed him back with all the desire and passion he had been holding back for so long. He pressed his body against Antonio, entwining his hands in the Spanish boy's dark curly hair. After a moment's hesitation, allowed his tongue to explore the inside of Antonio's mouth. Antonio slid his hands down from Lovino's neck, down his back, his waist, pressing on his hips. It felt amazing, exhilarating, Lovino found himself forgetting to come up for air. He pulled away, head spinning, and pressed his forehead to Antonio's. He shut his eyes and almost smiled, but forced himself to stop; he couldn't let Antonio win at everything.

Antonio, on the other hand, was grinning ear to ear when Lovino opened his eyes. "I'm not going away forever, you know," he said, "I'll be what, an hour and a half away by train?"

"I know," Lovino said, letting his forearms rest on Antonio' shoulders and balling up his shirt in his fists, "It's still far… and fucking expensive."

"I'll come back to visit more often," Antonio said, sweeping him into a hug, "I love you, Lovi, and I really do miss you."

Lovino wriggled out of Antonio's embrace, cheeks burning. "I-I… love you, too," he forced out between gritted teeth and an unhealthily red blush. He ran by Antonio, up the path to the Teapot, adding in a shout over his shoulder, "Stupid tomato bastard!" Not like he was completely head over heels for him. Not yet, anyway. Fuck it.

"Lovino! Where'd you go? We got back like an hour ago and you were gone!" Feliciano chirped as his older twin stomped through the second floor student lounge.

Joshua sank deeper into the couch next to Feliciano, narrowing his eyes at Lovino disapprovingly. "About time you returned, your brother was extremely worried."

"Fuck off, priss," Lovino spat, fumbling with his keys and retreating to his room, slamming the door behind him. He pulled off his tie and kicked off his shoes, making sure to hit Joshua's neatly stacked books on his desk.

Lovino tossed his pillows around the dorm room and burrowed under the blankets. His heart was still beating out of his chest, and now he had no way of denying that it was Antonio's fault. "Damn it," he muttered from under his comforter, "He better get back here soon." Lovino reluctantly admitted that he missed Antonio—but just a little bit.

Okay, can I just say that writing fluff from a tsundere's perspective is the most agonizing, frustrating thing? Yeah, I love this pair, but I'm not sure if this'll be the only fic I write for them. I'd love to hear if I pulled this pairing off! Hope you liked it, thanks for reading! :)