"Romano~ Where are you?"
"I said I'm over here, bastard!"
Spain peeked around the side of the house, a smile on his face. "What are you doing over there, Romano?" he asked, though he secretly knew.
"Come over here and see, lazy ass!" the boy yelled back at him, and the Spaniard just laughed.
"Un momento, mi tomatito~" He stepped out from beside the house and walked across the yard to where the auburn-haired little boy stood. The Italian wore a plain black shirt with a pair of slightly ratty old shorts. It looked cute on him- then again, Spain thought Romano looked cute in anything he wore- and it was a vast difference from the dress he usually wore for housecleaning. Antonio felt slightly guilty about making him wear that… But it was adorable on him, how could he not?
He stopped next to little Lovino, crouching beside him. "What is it?"
The boy turned to him, his eyes holding a sheen that was usually absent. "Lookit!" Short, tan arms held out a little yellow piece of paper. On it was neatly written 'Abajo del arbole grande detras de la casa'. "It's all in Spanish this time! The last one only had a few words in Spanish so I could understand it easily but I don't get this at all!" Romano's small fist clenched around the paper. "The only word I understand is 'tree'…"
Spain chuckled and reached out to gently pry the boy's fingers from around the crumpled paper, smoothing it out again. "Now, now, Romano, you've been taking Spanish lessons, haven't you? This should be easy for you."
Lovino glared up at him through narrowed green eyes. "Bastard…" he muttered. "How can you expect me to learn so much? I'm just a little kid!" And this was how Antonio knew that he was simply too embarrassed to admit that he hadn't been paying any attention. He never milked the whole 'little kid' thing unless he was really desperate.
The Spaniard reached out and ruffled the young Italian's hair. "Come on, Lovinito, if you don't pay attention and learn your Spanish than El Hada del Tesoro won't come anymore…"
"You suck…" Romano muttered, swiping a hand across his watering green eyes. He didn't care for Spanish- It was too much like his own language and so more often than not was horribly confusing for the poor Italian- but he desperately wanted El Hada del Tesoro – The Treasure Fairy- to keep coming. Romano had so much fun every time it did, finding the first little note under a broom or in the hall closet or on his desk or some other place, and being led off on a treasure hunt to find note after note after note, eventually to find the very last note, which was always accompanied by some kind of prize. It was never anything big, usually a tomato or a candy or something, but it was a fun break from his work to go chasing around the house and the yard like a little kid. And he was a little a kid, wasn't he? Spain always let him abandon his work for the day when he found a note, usually even helping Romano track down the others. And the Spanish. The notes were always in Spanish, to some extent. So, as much as he hated to admit it, he was always very grateful to Antonio.
"I… I don't know what it says! Come on, give me a break, you stupid jerkhole!" Lovino exclaimed, his eyes darting to meet those of the Spaniard. "How am I supposed to know this?"
Spain smiled and sat down cross-legged beside the little boy, leaning back on his palms. "Would you like me to help you?"
"H-Hell no!" Romano said, a bit too quickly. "I can do it myself!"
"Alright, Lovinito." Spain chuckled as he watched Romano's face change from embarrassment to determination, to frustration, to annoyance, to anger, and finally to resignation. Slowly, not meeting the eyes of his caretaker, the young Italian turned to the older Spaniard. "…Fine. Now help me with this."
Spain sat up a little with a grin. "Ah, what do you say?"
A sigh. "Please. Now do it, bastard."
Antonio just laughed and lowered his head to look at the note on the ground in front of the sitting boy. "'Abajo del arbole grande detras de la casa…' What does casa mean, Romano?"
"…House."
"Mm-hmm. And what does arbole mean?"
"Tree."
"And grande?"
"Big."
"Do you remember that little rhyme I taught you before? Izquierda, derecha, delante, detras, cerca y lejos-"
"Y-Yeah, yeah, of course I remember that! What about it?"
"The words abajo and detras are in there, too. Do you remember what they mean?"
Lovino thought, frowning. "Umm… Abajo is 'under' and… Detras is… 'behind'?"
He ended the sentence more like a question, looking to the Spaniard beside him for correction. But Spain just nodded, his eyes showing a proud glint. "Si! And you know that del is-"
"A combination of the words de and el, and de, la, and el are all words I know. So…"
"So put them together, and…"
"It says…" Romano focused hard on the flowing script across the small yellow paper. "It says… 'Under the big tree… behind the house…?"
Spain's grin broadened and he ruffled Romano's hair. "Si! Very good, Romano! I told you you knew it!"
"Sh-Shut up, bastard!" the Italian yelled, his cheeks dusting red. On the inside, he was quite proud of himself, but of course, his total-stubbornness made it impossible for him to express such. "So… I have to go to the big tree behind the house, then!" He got up and turned, starting to run toward the house. He had just gotten to the side of the house before he suddenly stopped. Turning to Spain with a half-confused, half-pissed look, he called, "Wait… How the hell am I supposed to go under a tree?" He hissed in frustration. "What's with that stupid fairy? I can't go under a fucking tree!"
Spain laughed. "Language, Romano, language~!"
"I'LL SHOW YOU LANGUAGE, FAIRY!"
A/N: So~ I was originally planning to make this a oneshot, but then I got lazy so I decided to make it a twoshot~ The next chapter will come soon, I promise! I'll type it up very soon! I just have so many ideas at the moment (I'm writing an HRExChibitalia and a Germancest as I write this too... SO MUCH STUFF!), so please bear with me! That and I am a student so yeah I have homework and a social life too! Though not much of the social life part... Eheheh ^^'' So in the meantime, anyway, thank you so much for reading and don't forget to review~! You just have to click the little button down thataway~ V
-Rain (='.'=)