Mellow! Hopefully, I'll see my usual followers as well as a few new ones with this new story. I'd like to welcome my new beta ChibiAmerica with this new story. I would like to say that I don't plan on continuing this for a while, because it gives away way too much plot from the other story. However, I shall post it once Growing Tomatoes is done. Enjoy the story!

Aloysius=HRE

Understanding Romano

Chapter 1

Lovino wasn't hiding, that's for sure. He just didn't want Mr. Austria to find him, or anyone else for that matter. And he wasn't crying either, Lovino didn't cry ever. He wasn't sad about leaving Mr. Austria's place and his brother. No, he wanted to be away from the potato bastards. Yeah, that's it.

Lovino Vargas was sitting alone in the garden, hiding from Roderick. Although, he would never admit it to himself or anyone else. Lovino tried desperately to stop the tears from running down his face, but it was no use. He didn't want to leave his little brother, and certainly not to go with a guy he hasn't seen since he was a baby.

Hell, he couldn't remember the bastard at all. Roderick didn't want him around to 'corrupt' the other two kids, so he was just giving him away. It was like Lovino didn't even matter. It's not like Roderick even cared about him enough to know his human name.

His thoughts were stopped when he heard his country name being called. "Romano! Romano!"

It was that pretty woman, Mrs. Hungary. Lovino wasn't going to move though. Normally he didn't mind her too much, but he hated when she listened to Austria. He could tell because she called him by his human name when they were out of his hearing range.

She didn't ever find the young teen hiding out. Lovino snickered a bit when he saw her run right by without noticing him. Of course that meant that the aristocrat would come looking for him.

Which was exactly what happened. "Romano, you will stop this foolishness and come out." Just the sound of his voice made Lovino jump.

"Romano, you will come out this instance!" Roderick snapped. "Do you want me to spank you?" No, Lovino didn't but he wasn't about to come out either.

It took the Austrian fifteen minutes to find where the boy was hiding. Roderick caught him by the collar of his shirt.

"Oi, you potato bastard let me go." Lovino fought like a wild cat to get lose.

Roderick, however, was fairly use to this and kept a firm grip on Lovino. "Quit this, right now."

Lovino didn't stop though, if anything he fought harder. And his swearing got louder, "You fucking bastard let me go!"

Roderick had enough, he dragged Romano kicking and screaming inside. After waiting a few more minutes for the child to wear himself out, Roderick sat down and pulled Romano over his lap. He swatted his bottom while lecturing, "I've told you multiple times not to use those foul words."

Romano squeak at the first spank, but afterward remained quite. Worn out from before, he laid limp over the man's lap. Tears made more tracks down his face, but Lovino refused to yell. He didn't care about what the Austrian was saying, it was always the same anyways.

After a few more swats to his sitting spots, Lovino was allowed back up. He stood in front of Roderick with his head down, he couldn't look him in the eyes with tears streaking his face.

Stiffly Roderick addressed him, "Hopefully Spain will have a use for you."

Lovino held back the rest of his tears. He knew that he was useless, why did Mr. Austria have to say it to his face? He wasn't very good at cleaning like his brother and he wasn't smart like Aloysius. So what use was he?

Grabbing the boy by the arm Roderick marched down the hallway that lead back to the waiting Spaniard. "I expect you to listen and quit this ridiculousness." Roderick huffed.

"It can't be as ridiculous as that coat of yours!" Lovino retorted angry, but his heart wasn't really in it.

Before Roderick could respond they entered the room. Romano glared at the man that was going to make him leave his little brother.

"Here he is," was all Austria said, making Lovino feel like nothing more than a show horse.

The man that sat lit up with joy when he first saw Romano, but slowly the smile diminished as the man looked at him. Right away Lovino could tell that the man was from somewhere that got a lot of sun, that is if the man's skin was anything to go by. Which was good, he didn't like the cold. The man's curly brown hair flopped down over his green eyes.

"Good luck with him." Roderick muttered.

"Sí, sí." The man started to smile again. Lovino was having a hard time figuring out what the guy's problem was.

"This is the bastard?" Romano yelled accusingly pointing at Antonio. That shit eating grin made Lovino worry about his new guardian, what kind of a man would wear a smile like that? "I have to go work for him!"

Mr. Austria, as always, was quick to discipline him. Lovino tried his best to avoid the five hard smacks, but Roderick had a firm grip on his arm. "I've told you about that mouth of yours before. Children are to be seen and not heard."

"Chigi!" Lovino shouted as his sore bottom was beginning to sting even worst. A few tears stung his eyes again.

"As you can tell he has a mouth on him. I've tried to get him to stop, but it's just been so much work." Lovino couldn't stand it when people talked about him like that. Like he was nothing but a disappointment.

Lovino sniffled and brushed the tears away; they were partially from the sting in his bottom, but more so from the words. "Any way, he's yours now. Romano go wait in the carriage," he gave the Italian boy a small push.

Lovino scowled and flashed an obscene hand gesture at Roderick. He didn't care how much punishment he got for that one, he felt that the snotty aristocrat deserved it. Even if he didn't care how much trouble he was probably going to be in, that didn't mean he wasn't going to run for his life. Italian's are known for being fast for a reason.

Lovino heard Roderick shout after him, but no matter what the Austrian said it wasn't going to stop Lovino. Either way he doubted that it would be Austria that would come after him, he was more afraid that it would be Spain.

He couldn't tell what kind of guy Spain was, but he didn't look too bright. But intelligence wasn't something that really concerned Romano, it was how he would be punished that frightened him. At least at Mr. Austria's house he knew what to expect, but going with his new guardian meant walking into the unknown.

Would he hit him? Austria normally wasn't too bad with spankings. Yeah they hurt, but Lovino knew that they weren't abuse. Austria and several others had given Lovino a wide range of punishments through the years. He's gotten sent to bed early/his room, slapped, skipped meals, locked in a small dark room/outside, and given extra chores. Most of the milder ones Austria had used and weren't all that horrible. The others though had him in tears every time.

Just by looking at the man Lovino was having doubts that he would be treated that badly. But there was that one guy that wanted him in a way that Lovino didn't want at all. Most of all Lovino hoped that Spain wouldn't be like that guy.

Lovino got into the carriage with these horrible thoughts swimming around in his head. He knew that his behavior wasn't sweet and cute like his younger brother, but he did try his best sometimes. Well, at least he did when he was younger.

He use to try his hardest to get whatever the job was done, but sometimes he didn't really know what he was doing or his muscles would suddenly jerk on him and he would accidentally break something. But it wasn't like he tried to do anything wrong. He just wasn't as good as his brother, even Grandpa Rome seemed to know that. Now anymore it wasn't so much that he was lazy, rather he didn't see a point in trying.

Lovino wondered if his brother would hate him for leaving and not telling him. Lovino knew that Roderick wouldn't care enough to announce it and Mrs. Hungary was sworn to secrecy, at least until after Lovino was gone. He wasn't quite sure how his brother would deal with his disappearance, with Grandpa Rome he cried for weeks on end.

Lovino briefly wondered if Spain would allow him to come back to visit, or allow Feliciano to come for a few days. He quickly threw out that thought though, the bastard was probably like all the rest.

A chipper voice and chipper man got into the carriage, "Hey Romano. Lo siento, I was so late."

Lovino jumped at being ripped out of his thoughts. He was a bit angry because he hated surprises. "Did you just say something to me in fucking Spanish?"

"Um, sí. You'll be learning it soon too!" Spain's smile grew weaker, like he just couldn't keep it up anymore. "Also, could you please not swear, it's kind of rude."

"I don't want to learn fucking Spanish, teach me something cool like Russian. But I don't want to have anything to do with potato bastards." He never wanted anything to do with potatoes, they were the worst!

Spain didn't look too happy at his comment, "Romano, I'm only giving you one more chance. Don't swear, boss Spain doesn't like it."

Romano had enough, he couldn't take being referred to as a underling. He knew that he wasn't an equal, but he didn't want it shoved in his face. "Chigi! Just because you own me doesn't mean that you're my fucking boss. Casso!"

Lovino went off into a swearing fit. It was always how he got out any real emotions. Sure he loved his brother and got hugs from him and Mrs. Hungary, but the German purebred and Austria didn't give a shit about him. He hated to have people see him cry as well, they never seemed to at least try to understand what his problem was. So most of his emotions he hid under his venomous words, it's not like there was anyone he could trust.

Lovino was taken by surprise when Spain pulled him over his lap. Only temporary stunned, Lovino was alive and kicking on the second spank. "Stop it you bastard!" he screamed and thrashed about.

"I'll stop if you apologize for being rude." Strangely enough, Antonio didn't sound all that angry to Lovino. But it didn't matter to his bottom that was burning from the hard swats.

Never one to give up easy Lovino still fought, even if it was only with words. "No," he had meant it as a growl, but instead it was nothing more than a pitiful whine from a naughty boy.

Lovino wasn't sure how much longer it lasted, but his new boss eventually gave up. He knew that his face was probably streaked with tears, his ass felt like a fire had been lit under it.

"You will listen to my warnings and not swear, si?" The man asked setting him back down.

"S-si." Lovino stuttered, completely surrendering. He couldn't take anymore. He had now been spanked three times in the last hour. It just wasn't a good day.

The man signaled to the driver, who Lovino was sure heard what had happened. He only hoped that Austria wouldn't hear of it. He might never see that aristocrat again; but it he could still hear the scolding Austria would give him for not listening for new boss, even if the man wasn't there.

Lovino winced almost every time the carriage bumped around, it wasn't helping his sore bottom in the least.

The Spaniard cleared his throat, "Romano, I don't want to spank you. But I will if you don't listen to me I will."

Lovino bit his lip, he was thinking of home. His true home, back when he still lived with Grandpa Rome. It's been at least a hundred years since he's last seen it. He could still imagine the mansion that they had lived in vaguely, he was pretty sure that Feliciano didn't remember at all since they had been so long.

"Lovino," The man's voice had a touch of warning in it. "Please look at me when I'm talking to you."

In a flash Lovino jerked his head up. He didn't even realize that Spain had been talking, until he had heard his name. Startled he asked, "H-how do you know my name?"

"Mrs. Hungary told me. Would you prefer me to call you that or your country name?" Of course it was that woman. She was generally a nice lady, but horribly nosy. It made sense though, there was no way the Austrian would've told the man that.

Lovino glared at his new boss and growled, "Call me whatever you want." he knew that he should probably be nicer, but at that point he was too mad to care.

"Since I'm going to call you by your human name I think it's only fair that you call me by mine. I'm Antonio Fernandez Carriedo." Lovino was confused, he never called another country, besides his brother, by their human name.

Lovino wasn't sure what to do, he didn't know if he shoukd trust this guy.

He yawned, feeling very tired from the already too long day. Dropping his head he hoped that he could ignore his bottom long enough to sleep. He drifted off with his brother's face in mind.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Translations~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lo siento- sorry (Spanish)

Cazzo- fuck (Italian)