Greetings everyone - HetaReader/HetaWriter here. Now, if some of you read my profile, you would've seen that this story was planned as a major work for me.

Well, here it is at long last! Make no mistake, I'm still trying to think of the body of this story as well as trying to overcome my writer's block for HetaVoice's current chapter, but I'll manage somehow.

This story was inspired after my sister was searching up Spamano fics online and wondered what Lovino would be like if he were the older one and Antonio was the minor. Pretty much, I was inspired by that and this fic was born. It was also inspired by an episode of Law & Order SVU I watched as well (forgot which one it was, though) that involved an adult and a minor. Where do you draw the line?

Serious notations aside, I hope you enjoy this story (particularly you, H. Tagi - I knew you were looking forward to this piece for a long time).

By the way, Lars is Netherlands.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Hetalia

"Dammit," a snarl ripped the once still air that darkened evening. "How much longer is it gonna take for us to fucking get there?!"

A deep voice responded coldly, "Don't get your panties in a twist, Vargas. It won't take much longer."

Straight after, a third voice – one that was much softer – cut in, "Guys, it's eight…please, don't make such a raucous…"

Despite it being a seemingly peaceful night where the sky was painted a royal blue and embedded with stars that twinkled like diamonds, the only sound in this part of the town right now was that of a sleek, black car sailing past the dimly lit houses where people chattered on from inside. The car was humming; its engine alive as its lights shone before it, lighting the path in front.

Lovino snorted as he leaned back in the back seat, "Fuck them. They're making a lot of noise themselves in their own damn houses. Seriously – sounds like they're all having a damn party or some shit…"

"For all we know, they could," a tall Dutchman with spiky, dark blonde hair responded darkly. He was sporting a scarf adorned with the colours dark blue and white. "Probably getting high now on shit as we speak…"

"Hmph, we all know you want that, bastard," said Lovino, amber eyes piercing at the back of the Dutchman's head.

The Dutchman gazed up at the rear-view mirror, glancing at the Italian man with a stone-hard face. However, his storm-blue eyes betrayed the glint of amusement that shone from within. "Heh…we know that that's true," he agreed.

"Lars," from Lovino's right, a young looking blonde man with violet eyes, glasses and a wild, dangling curl spoke up, a little worried. "Lars, are we really almost there, yet?"

The Dutchman in the driver's seat, Lars, glanced at the other blonde from his rear-view mirror. "Yeah, we're almost there," he answered back. "Positive on that one."

"Then why the hell are we taking so damn long?" demanded Lovino, crossing his arms over his chest. "We should've been there about half an hour ago!"

"I can't drive any faster than the damn speed limit," said Lars sharply. "Remember the last time we got a speed ticket?"

"Yeah, I remember that," Lovino looked irritated. "We had to bust your damn ass out of jail because you were stupid enough to drive while you were high on God knows what the hell you were sniffing that night!"

"You blaming me, Italian?"

"Yeah, I'm fucking blaming you!"

"Why the hell you putting the blame on me?" Lars asked, annoyed. "Not my fault that we're running late to the rendezvous point to get the damn goods."

"Um, Lars…" piped up the blonde a bit shyly. "You were the one who the contactors gave the address to after all…"

"You ain't helping the situation, Mattie," said Lars sharply. However, he rubbed his head with one hand while the other stayed on the wheel. "Sheesh…what was I on? Was I really that high?"

"You couldn't remember our names!" snapped Lovino. "You called me Katarina and you called Mateo, Marguerite! You even called the both of us sexy at one point! Mateo even had to whack you with one of his hockey sticks to knock you out."

"Seriously?" Lars now had a blank expression creasing over his features. "Damn…that sounds like some whacked up shit I took…what the hell did I take?"

Lovino wrinkled his nose, "How the hell are we supposed to know that?"

"Lars, just keep driving," Matthew said, now exasperated. He desperately wanted to just go home now – this was becoming too much of a toll for his head to take. Personally, Matthew loved spending time with his two closest friends; however they did become quite a handful at various times. It certainly wasn't just during business where the Italian and the Dutchman drove the young Canadian man up the wall.

Lars and Lovino stopped their arguing and the trip became silent again. Both men knew better than to push Matthew's limits; things became extremely ugly if Matthew ever were to lose his temper.

Yes, things would get extremely ugly.

The car ride stretched on; however the silence was far from awkward. On the contrary, the silence was rather inviting.

Lovino was a lover of silence as were the two men with him, however he detested that feeling of awkwardness that settled in the air whenever he was stuck with somebody else beside him and in complete silence.

Admittedly, the silences were quite awkward between Lovino and the Dutchman and Canadian at first when they were assigned to work together. However as they began to work with each other more often, they inexplicably grew closer despite all of the squabbles and petty arguments they partook from time to time. They grew close to the point that even their superiors found it strange if the trio worked either separately or with other members of the group.

Lovino and Lars wouldn't admit it aloud (though Matthew would), but all three knew inside that they had grown past the stage of being just fellow workmates. No, the three of them shared a much stronger bond than that.

They were friends.

"We're here," Lars' voice announced, breaking Lovino away from his thoughts.

The Italian shook his head as Lars parked the car at an unfamiliar street nearby a school with a great field that was dappled with specks from the moon's light. The main school building looked to consist of red bricks and white pavement. Around the school, Lovino could see that there were all kinds of shops marring the streets with rather vibrant signs. Shops of all kind were surrounding him; restaurants, clothes stores, parlours…

"Isn't that the Duplex Mall?" Matthew asked with an arched eyebrow, pointing at a grand building that consisted of glass panes, windows and golden rods that provided as the backbone to keep it up.

Lars stared at the building and rubbed his head as they exited from the car. "You're fucking kidding me…" he grumbled. "We could've just taken the way near the damn fountain…"

"Now you stop being all high on your damn drugs," Lovino snorted as he pointedly glared at the said fountain.

Despite being rather irritated, Lovino found the fountain to be rather beautiful. It was made out of white marble that simply made it glow during the moon's gentle light. The water glinted and sparkled as well, adding a mystic feeling to it. The water gushed in a soft, yet strong noise as it continued spouting water in a rather beautiful formation that was curving upward in a semi-arch.

Lovino admired the fountain for a little while before coming back to business, "Okay, high bastard where are we supposed to meet the damn contactors again?"

Lars pointed at the fountain that the Italian was staring at. "Behind there," he responded. "In an alley just beyond the part of the fountain where you can face the beach."

The Italian glared, "You're messing with me now, are you?"

"I'm not playing," responded Lars tonelessly, though he looked rather annoyed. "The contactors wrote down everything and gave it to me. You're meeting behind the fucking fountain."

"That's not far from your house, you bastard!" snapped Lovino. "We wasted a shit load of time to get here just because you were high on a piece of shit!"

Matthew cleared his throat before another argument could ensue between the two older men and risk causing another raucous. "Guys," the Canadian said. "Please, just give it a rest – I really want some sleep as much as you guys. Lovino, can't you just check if they're there, yet? Then we can go home."

Lovino gave a snort as he rolled his eyes, "Che…fine! You and high bastard stay here and I'll go check behind the fucking fountain in some totally safe alleyway."

Lars flipped him off as he pulled a cigarette from a small packet in the pocket of his brown coat. Matthew sighed as he leaned back on the car, gazing up at the moon with a rather dreamy expression on his face.

"What are you thinking about there, Mattie?" Lars asked nonchalantly as he took out a light from his other pocket, cigarette now in his mouth.

Matthew gave a start, brought back to earth as he stared at the Dutchman, pale face slightly flushed, "O-oh! Nothing…it was nothing…"

Lars smirked, "Usually when somebody says something like that, it always means something." As soon as the end of his cigarette lit up, the Dutchman took a great heave and exhaled, emitting rings of grey smoke from his mouth. He took the cigarette out of his mouth momentarily and quirked an eyebrow at the Canadian, "It's about your Ukrainian girlfriend, isn't it? Katyusha was her name?"

Matthew's face grew an unhealthier shade of red, "Y-you…you could tell?"

The Dutchman rolled his eyes, "No…no, you were hiding it so damn well!"

Matthew scowled at the sarcastic reply but decided not to retort and instead responded, "Yes. It's about Katyusha…"

"Well, what about Mrs. Williams?"

"Lars!" Matthew gasped. "Katyusha and I are not married!"

"I know you want her to be, though. To be married to you," Lars took another heave from his cigarette after tapping away some ashes from the butt. He exhaled more cloudy ringlets as he smirked at the Canadian, "She's been your girlfriend for five freaking years already. I would propose to her soon, if I were you – she's a cool woman. After all, she's fine about you being in a group such as ours and all…"

"That's the thing," sighed Matthew. "Though I'm glad that she accepts this now, I'm just…just so worried that I might be endangering her…"

"What?" Lars stopped for a moment and stared at the Canadian man. "Is that it? Really?"

"Y-yeah," Matthew responded miserably. "I think I might be putting her in danger – maybe I should just break it off with her…"

"Don't break off with her," replied Lars as he gave another drag on his cigarette. "She's a wonderful woman. Sure she cries easily and shit, but she has a big heart on her. Almost as big as her breasts. She knew what she was gonna be involved in with having a gang member as her boyfriend and obviously, since she's okay with it, then she knows the risks. She loves you, man. This one is a rarity; don't let her go…"

Matthew stared at the Dutchman in stunned silence from his words. Lars was the eldest out of the three of them at age twenty-nine, almost approaching the big three-o and about to exit the prime years of adulthood. Lovino was in the middle at age twenty-seven, still in the prime of his life. Matthew was the youngest at age twenty-four, and obviously still had several more years in the blossoming stage of adulthood.

The Canadian man nodded as Lars' piece of advice sunk in. He smiled, "Yeah, thanks Lars."

Lars shrugged as he tapped his cigarette again, eyes now fixed upon a bookstore nearby. The Dutchman tilted his head and shrugged in response, "Yeah, don't mention it…"

The only noise still being the fountain, Lovino carefully peered around the fountain and saw the alleyway, which cast a dark shadow on the (at first) peaceful visage of the night. The Italian's brows furrowed down to a frown as he squinted, trying to see if there was anybody there at all waiting. Seeing and hearing no signs of movement, Lovino took a bold step forward and this time, set foot in the alleyway, a hand now slowly brushing against a smooth, metal surface inside his pocket.

The Italian glanced around as his hands now gripped onto the object in his coat pocket. He narrowed his eyes as he strained his ears, listening for any sudden movements.

A scratching noise pierced his thoughts.

Lovino then whipped out the object, revealing it to be a pistol, whose silver surface glinted menacingly under the moon's rays. The Italian's eyes darted towards the dumpster a few paces behind him. Lovino licked his lips, heart pounding in his chest as he took a cautious step towards the massive heap of garbage.

He forced himself to calm down as he came closer and closer to the dumpster. Eventually, the scratching noise grew louder and there was now rustling from within, as if something was moving from inside of the dumpster.

Lovino cocked his gun, ready to fire. He peered inside, his gun still poised at the ready when a loud mewling reached his ears.

"What the hell?" the Italian lowered his gun and removed a bag full of garbage, carelessly tossing it away…

…only to reveal a dark brown cat with a fishbone in its mouth.

Lovino stared down at the cat in disbelief; this was what caused him to get so riled up? The Italian glared head-on with the animal and spat, "Yeah? What the hell are you looking at, bastard?"

The cat's response was to simply stare back at him. It eventually ran away, fishbone still present in its mouth.

"Stupid cat," Lovino grumbled as he concluded that there was absolutely nothing in the alleyway. The Italian was frustrated; Lars had gained the information from the contactors! They were supposed to meet at the rendezvous point in regards to their deal with some recently smuggled weapons.

Here was Lovino at the rendezvous point, but where the hell were those damn bastards they were supposed to meet?

Swearing in rapid Italian, Lovino kicked the dumpster in frustration but howled soon after as pain split his toe.

Eventually, he hobbled his way back to the car to report the bad news, only for find that Matthew was gazing at the fountain alone.

"Where the hell is Lars?" demanded Lovino, getting even more irritated.

Matthew gave the Italian a weak smile, "He said you were taking too long after he finished taking a drag on his cigarette, he went in there." The Canadian man pointed at a bookstore nearby.

Lovino stared at his younger companion then at the bookstore incredulously, "Are you fucking kidding me?!" he screamed. "What the hell is he even gonna do there?! You know what?! I don't give a fuck! Chigi! It's his fucking fault in the first place! There was nobody in the damn alleyway!"

"Really?" Matthew looked shocked. "Nobody was there?" seeing Lovino shake his head, the Canadian man rubbed his head, "But we were supposed to meet there – that was our rendezvous point! Now what are we going to do? What will the boss say about this?"

"Make Lars report to the boss," snapped Lovino as he leaned back on the car beside Matthew. "It's his fucking fault! All of this! Bastard was probably too high to realize something was wrong…"

Meanwhile, in the bookstore, Lars was calmly inspecting shelves upon shelves of books of many kinds. There were some about cooking, some about horror stories, some about magic, some about countries, some about world history…

None of those interested the Dutchman in one bit, though.

What did interest Lars however was the next array of shelves that were near the back.

Adult romance novels.

It was a trait of his that Lovino found hilarious and Matthew quite cute, but Lars was, in reality, a romantic at heart and indulged in reading books of the very genre during his spare time. Lars himself didn't really give a damn about anyone else's opinion about his reading preferences and stayed in his own genre, immersing himself with stories that spoke of loves of any kind.

Tragedies, comedies, something more steamy, drama…

Lars' eyes travelled upon a book with a dark cover and a white tie at the front. It was sitting on the most popular stand of the book's section. He read the back of it and arched an eyebrow after reading the blurb. "Fifty shades of…" he snorted. "What bland bullshit." He carelessly tossed the book back onto its stand and inspected the other four books that were on the stand.

After finally reading the blurb of the last book on the most popular pick stand, the Dutchman gave an exasperated sigh, "Where's the good shit? When a plot actually makes me wanna buy the damn book and read it!"

"A-ano…excuse me…" a timid voice softly spoke up.

Lars turned around and gazed down, noticing a short, shy-looking Japanese man with black hair, dull brown eyes and wearing a navy blue kimono. "What?" the Dutchman asked rather bluntly.

"I couldn't help but notice you being disgruntled at the most popular choices," the Japanese man said. "Honestly, I am rather displeased myself; I never liked that book, either."

Lars couldn't help but feel slightly amused by the shorter man's accent. It was an Engrish one where instead of an 'l'; an 'r' took its place. The Dutchman shrugged, "Well…what do you suggest?"

The Japanese man had a twinkle in his eye at being asked his opinion. He then gestured Lars to a shelf where it was a bit further away from the front and considerately more back. The Dutchman noticed that the books here were a bit dustier than the ones at the front. Feeling a bit uncomfortable from the state of the books, Lars asked, "Why are the books like this?"

"Because they are never looked at," responded the Japanese man sadly. "While everyone goes to the front and just pick what's there because it is the most new thing to read, nobody comes back here to inspect what lies further…"

"I see," Lars nodded. "What do you suggest again?"

The Japanese man inspected the shelves and finally pulled out a book with a hard, red cover and in neat, golden font, letters spelled out the title.

"'The Soldier'?" Lars asked, arching an eyebrow as he took the book from the Japanese man. "Hmm…" he flipped the book around and read the blurb. Several seconds later, the Dutchman raised his head and asked in a low voice, "How much is it?"

The Japanese man gave a small smile, "Not much; it will cost you fifteen dollars."

"Seriously?" Lars looked incredulous. "And the shit at the front is worth twice the amount of this? Damn…"

The Japanese man gave a small chuckle as he took the crisp bills from the Dutchman at the counter, "I know how you feel there. It is a shame that these days, nobody pays attention to more wonderful stories around. I hope you enjoy that book; I guarantee that it is a wonderful read."

"I'll take your word for it," Lars said nonchalantly as he held the book tightly and waved off an offer for a bag. "Later, uh…"

"Kiku," the Japanese man responded. "My name is Kiku."

The Dutchman nodded, "Thanks again, Kiku. The name's Lars. Later…"

As soon as Lovino caught sight of his older companion exiting the bookstore, he flew into a fit of rage. "What the hell is wrong with you, you damn bastard?!" demanded the Italian. "You went into a fucking bookstore for how long while you kept us waiting!"

"Why the hell were you waiting?" Lars asked tonelessly. "I didn't think it'd take you that long to meet the contactors…"

"Che palle, don't play dumb with me!" snapped Lovino. "There was nobody there!"

"Wait…what?" Lars looked confused as he pulled out the piece of paper from before. He showed it to his younger friends, "It says right here that they were gonna meet right here…"

Matthew peered at the piece of paper. He then sighed, "Lars, the date says that we're supposed to meet them on the twenty-first…"

"And…?"

Lovino's face grew red, "Today's the fucking twentieth, you dumbass!"

Lars' face grew blank. He checked the date again and tried racking his brain as to what the date today was. "So it is," he murmured. "My mistake…"

"Vaffanculo!" shrieked Lovino. "You wasted our time for fucking nothing! Nothing but a stupid book!"

"I must've been really high," Lars mumbled to himself, totally ignoring Lovino. He opened the driver's door and entered the car. "Wonder what the hell I was on at the time…hmm…could I get more of it?"

"Oh, Lars…" Matthew sighed as he entered the car himself.

Lovino spat at the ground, understandably frustrated. He entered the car and closed it with a loud slam, causing Matthew to flinch and for Lars to pointedly glare at him. The Italian flipped him off as the Dutchman started the engine, prompting the car to drive away.

'Damn him!' Lovino angrily thought to himself as he ran a hand through his dark brown locks of hair, careful to avoid a curl that stuck out on his right. 'I can't believe this! What the hell was this bastard on at the time to make him act like a complete retard?!'

Giving a huff, Lovino leaned back in his seat, patting the pocket of his coat where his pistol still lay in comfort. He shut his amber eyes as Lars then turned on the radio where some rather soothing music started playing, equaling heaven to his ears.

The car's engine continued to hum as it drove straight ahead in the now peaceful night.

And there you have it; the prologue comes to a close. Because I was shot forth from inspiration, I also added the first chapter, which involves Antonio. Canada x Ukraine is also an official couple in this story.

Thoughts and opinions, guys? Have a nice day! :DDD