“But you look so much alike with Veneziano’s cute face and your scowly face” maybe that wasn’t the way he should be phrasing things right now. Spain backtracked, “which is also incredibly cute” but apparently those weren’t the right words either as Romano’s only reply was hurling Spain’s phone, which had been lying on the table (still showing that message), at Spain’s head before making another attempt at the door.
With Romano, grand gestures were needed. Statements of love had to be given more ardently, more frequently. He never believed anything unless it was shoved right in his face, repeatedly. And Spain had been fine with that, because he loved letting the whole world know that he was in love, not to mention who he was in love with.
Maybe that had been the wrong way to approach things. Maybe Spain should have been thinking about why it had taken Romano weeks before he had trusted Spain’s declarations (“I love you!” “Sure.” “I love you!” “You’ve said.” “I love you!” “I bet.” “I love you!” “Move your arm, I’m trying to walk here.” “I love you!” “…it’s 3am.” “I love you, Romano.” “…I know.”).
So instead of raising a hand after him again (Spain had learned his lesson), instead of calling out for Romano to stay, to listen, Spain full-body tackled him to the ground and pinned his squirming boyfriend under his larger weight. Yes. His boyfriend. They were still going out, because like hell had Spain ever agreed to any breaking up. Romano just had to realize that.
“Get the fuck off of me Spain!”
Spain concentrated on stopping Romano’s legs from moving. This was the most danger his vital regions had been in in a long time; Romano was worth putting them on the line for, but no one was going to be happy if they got past whatever-the-hell this was and they didn’t work anymore… “Not until you promise to stay and listen to me.”
“I promise.”
“You’re lying.”
“No I’m not.”
“He is.”
Romano would have told his brother to shut up if he could manage anything more than incoherent screams of rage. Spain still understood. “Veneziano… I think you should leave.”
“What?” “What?”
If he wasn’t so concerned about Romano crushing him, all this writhing would have been taking Spain to a very nice place. “Just go.”
Veneziano left, and closed the door behind him.
Spain waited a full minute before speaking. “While I still think it would be incredibly hot-” wisely, Spain cut himself off. Romano had finally gone still. Still in that way he went when something made him so angry that he stopped talking about it and looked the other way when his mafia killed it in a back alley. “I wasn’t cheating on you with Veneziano. I was just trying to give you some space because you seemed really unhappy lately; I didn’t realize that was because I was spending so much time with your brother.”
Romano tried to punch him again, and Spain knew he was listening. “You should have.”
“Yeah, I probably should. But I didn’t because I was too busy thinking about you.” Spain was a romantic country; everybody said so. At the moment, he just felt like a desperate country, but he drew upon every reserve of eloquence and allure he had to try and convince Romano he loved him, that he had never stopped. It was probably the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. “I love you, Romano. And I’ll keep saying it until you hear me. I love you, I picked you and I’ll keep picking you, no matter how much you think I’m going to leave you for Veneziano or anyone else.”
Romano tried to hit him again, and this time his fist connected with Spain’s head.
But it didn’t really hurt. “Y-you bastard. I don’t forgive you.”
Personally, Spain didn’t think there was anything to forgive. But he wasn’t going to say anything like that now; he could have tact too, thank you. “Just give me another chance, Roma. Please.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No.”
“I love you.”
“Fuck off.”
“The only person I want to be fucking is you.”
Romano stopped struggling. “…why?”
Spain thought about what he could say. He decided on the truth. “I’m not sure. All I know is that I do.”
“Prove it.”
“I will. Every single day. If you’ll-”
“I’ll let you. But only because I’m so fucking good to you.”
Spain smirked. Everything was going to be okay. Crisis averted, he decided to take advantage of their position on the floor (Roma had been ignoring him for so long!) and ground his hips down against Romano’s in a hard circle. This time, not in any way to stop Romano from squirming. It was more of an invitation, really. “We’ve got half an hour until the conference starts up again…”
The clock was blinking just past one in the morning. Romano hadn’t been able to sleep. The day had been too much, too fast, and his mind wouldn’t let him rest. Instead, it played out every scene from the afternoon in minute detail, over and over.
It was just as he was remembering Veneziano’s words about Germany again that he heard the voice at the door. “Brother…?” There was no knock; their house must be really quiet if Romano could hear just the whisper. Maybe he was hearing things.
He was; he was hearing his brother’s voice. Veneziano took the silence as acceptance and quietly tiptoed into his older brother’s room before slipping under the sheets of his bed and joining him. “Is this okay?”
Romano tried to keep his voice neutral. “You tell me.”
Veneziano breathed out a tiny little “ve.” If that was all he had to say, Romano was throwing him out and giving him a matching set of shiners.
“I’m sorry.” He meant it. Romano could tell, because they were both Italy and they were connected.
“That’s not enough.”
“I don’t do it on purpose; at least, ve, I think I don’t.”
Romano huffed into his pillow. “What matters is that you do it.”
“Forgive me?”
This was his chance for revenge. This was his chance to tear his little brother down, for once the victor. Or maybe this was his chance to forgive, for once to be the bigger man instead of sneaking conniving Romano. Or maybe this was his chance to turn around and ask his brother what was going on in his head. Why he did what he did, what he thought and what he felt and maybe offer up his own terrible twisted not-enough feelings so that Veneziano could see that they were real and maybe say something to make them go away. Like ‘You’re fine how you are’ or ‘You’re just as much Italy as I am’ because those were two of the myriad of things that Romano had always wanted to hear.
“Just go to sleep.”
That was sappier than a maple tree. And angstier than… something angsty. So. I started this with the full intention of writing the whole series of events (Romano gets Spain, Veneziano tries to steal Spain and then there is family fighting and Romano-choosing). So much for that. I hope you like it anyways, OP! [oh yeah, not the 2nding or 3rding anon. Just somebody different.]
About Germany: it seemed like a good reason for Romano to hate him. I’d hate a boyfriend that left me for my sibling, frankly.
About Veneziano: he ain’t all bubbles and sunshine. But what a time to pick to reveal that you’ve understood your brother’s reactions all along: “hey bro, been hitting on your man, btw, know about your inferiority complex, think it’s kind of pathetic g2g bye.” He’s not all super villain here, he still asks for forgiveness. But he’s hardly blameless. Yeah.
I think I need to go write something happy now, sheesh.
Re: It's You [5/5]
anonymous
May 9 2010, 12:02:30 UTC
I rarely read Spamano but I really liked this one since the characters, especially the Italys came out believably. Romano was angry and stubborn but had his reasons for it. Italy was bubbly and happy but isn't blameless either.
Mwahaha, my evil mission to make people like Spamano more, and therefore feel the urge to write it more often, and therefore give me more Spamano to read is working! This logic is infallible!
Re: It's You [5/5]
anonymous
May 9 2010, 12:34:12 UTC
I'm not OP, but I've been dying to see this filled! That was great, North was the right amount of villainous and Spain and South were very in character! Believe it or not, I prefer S.Italy to N.Italy, so fics like this always tug at the heartstrings.
Re: It's You [5/5]
anonymous
May 9 2010, 13:07:52 UTC
Really good fic!!!
To be honest, I think the reason that Veneziano is always going after Romano's boyfriends (at least in THIS fic) is that link they share that you write about - Romano feels Veneziano's desire for forgiveness and his pain when he hits him, I imagine that when Romano is in love Veneziano feels some sort of echo of the same love and desire for that person in himself, and acts on it instead of realizing that he's just feeling his brother's feelings, rather than those of himself... perhaps Romano is just better at separating the feelings of his brother from the feelings of himself, and that's why it doesn't happen in reverse?
Since I'm the author, I'm probably supposed to know those things. Erm. At the risk of destroying the mystic veil of authornon storyworld omnipotence, I have to admit: I totally wasn't thinking about their connection as a justification for Veneziano's behavior.
What I thought was more along the lines of: N. Italy really does love his big brother, no matter any inner judgments on who's better/more loved/whatever. He looks up to him, so whenever Romano begins seeing someone/brings them home, Veneziano sees them in this golden light of someone who must be so amazing because my brother chose them. He gets closer to them out of his own infectiously agreeable personality, and before he knows it they're starting to show attraction back to him, and he already thought "wow he/she's so wonderful..." and before he knows it he's boyfriend-yoinked. Again.
But your explanation actually makes more sense, especially in the context of the world I set up... aw man. You're awesome. So taking off of your idea, I'd imagine the reverse doesn't happen because Romano is a stubborn old curmudgeon, and he knows his own damn feelings thank you very much, and nothing's going to sway him. Goddamn it Veneziano, that guy's not that great, keep it in your pants. Don't look at me so innocently, I know what you're thinking!
OP is <333333333333
anonymous
May 9 2010, 14:52:15 UTC
Anon! ANON!!! THIS WAS AWESOME!! Exactly what I wanted, thank you!!
I liked your interpretation of Veneziano (also prefers Romano for some reason...) and Spain is such a sweetie~ <3 Massive <3s and internets for your Spain there. He's just perfect. And Romano! *hugs* So perfect, so awesome.
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!
It's fine as it is, but if you wanted to write the beginning part too, well, I won't complain. Not that you have to if your busy and stuff...just saying.
Romano's my favorite character, so it's not hard at all for me to give him a happy ending / make Veneziano a villain for a bit. Glad you liked Spain! This meme is really giving me love-declaration practice.
YOU'RE WELCOME!
At the moment I have no real ideas for a prequel. Maybe sometime, I won't give any concrete no, but right now I've got too much on my plate. I'm sorry OP... ;_;
Re: It's You [5/5]
anonymous
May 9 2010, 19:53:03 UTC
OP must be me because we have the same idea. Everyone always seems to like Vene better than Roma and no matter how much family matters, Romano probably hates introducing his love interests to his little brother. Much like Spain though, I'd choose Romano. ♥
I'm so glad to see this request filled and so wonderfully too! I hope to encounter more of your work!
“I love you!” “Sure.” “I love you!” “You’ve said.” “I love you!” “I bet.” “I love you!” “Move your arm, I’m trying to walk here.” “I love you!” “…it’s 3am.” “I love you, Romano.” “…I know.”
This (beside being awesome) gave me the odd impression of knowing your writing style. Are you writing another epic fill with Spain/Romano here on the meme, or am I just being a creep?
Probably the second. Sorry. Also, Captcha: 'stuck in' in second gear / And it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, / or even your year but../ I'LL BEEEE THERE FOR YOUUUUU / WHEN THE RAIN STARTS - "Goddamnit, stop it, Antonio, I'm trying to sleep here!"
Um. If by 'epic' you mean 'really long and involves stealing stuff and awkwardness and INTERPOL' then. Uh. Yeah. Guilty. Other anons have told me it's a distinctive style; I suppose it must be true. ^^'
"But Lovi, it reminds me of us! YOU'VE BURNED YOUR BREAKFAST SO FAR, THINGS ARE GOING GRRRRRrrrrreeeEEEEAAAAaaaaTTtTTtT-" SMASH "Next time it'll be more than a bookend shitface, it'll be the whole fucking shelf. Now get your ass back in here, I'm cold."
Re: Author Here
anonymous
October 25 2010, 04:30:04 UTC
Ah, poor Romano. Veneziano has also human failings too and I love how well you addressed them. He still doesn't know how to handle them but at least he's aware. And Romano, oh despair for you. I'm glad he has Spain to love and understand him.
And d'aawww~ that little drabble at the bottom of your comment is so cute! I'd pay to see a continuation of that, if I had more than *unimportant foreign currency* in my wallet.
I'd love a link to your other works then too, author!anon. I hope you get to see this!
With Romano, grand gestures were needed. Statements of love had to be given more ardently, more frequently. He never believed anything unless it was shoved right in his face, repeatedly. And Spain had been fine with that, because he loved letting the whole world know that he was in love, not to mention who he was in love with.
Maybe that had been the wrong way to approach things. Maybe Spain should have been thinking about why it had taken Romano weeks before he had trusted Spain’s declarations (“I love you!” “Sure.” “I love you!” “You’ve said.” “I love you!” “I bet.” “I love you!” “Move your arm, I’m trying to walk here.” “I love you!” “…it’s 3am.” “I love you, Romano.” “…I know.”).
So instead of raising a hand after him again (Spain had learned his lesson), instead of calling out for Romano to stay, to listen, Spain full-body tackled him to the ground and pinned his squirming boyfriend under his larger weight. Yes. His boyfriend. They were still going out, because like hell had Spain ever agreed to any breaking up. Romano just had to realize that.
“Get the fuck off of me Spain!”
Spain concentrated on stopping Romano’s legs from moving. This was the most danger his vital regions had been in in a long time; Romano was worth putting them on the line for, but no one was going to be happy if they got past whatever-the-hell this was and they didn’t work anymore… “Not until you promise to stay and listen to me.”
“I promise.”
“You’re lying.”
“No I’m not.”
“He is.”
Romano would have told his brother to shut up if he could manage anything more than incoherent screams of rage. Spain still understood. “Veneziano… I think you should leave.”
“What?” “What?”
If he wasn’t so concerned about Romano crushing him, all this writhing would have been taking Spain to a very nice place. “Just go.”
Veneziano left, and closed the door behind him.
Spain waited a full minute before speaking. “While I still think it would be incredibly hot-” wisely, Spain cut himself off. Romano had finally gone still. Still in that way he went when something made him so angry that he stopped talking about it and looked the other way when his mafia killed it in a back alley. “I wasn’t cheating on you with Veneziano. I was just trying to give you some space because you seemed really unhappy lately; I didn’t realize that was because I was spending so much time with your brother.”
Romano tried to punch him again, and Spain knew he was listening. “You should have.”
“Yeah, I probably should. But I didn’t because I was too busy thinking about you.” Spain was a romantic country; everybody said so. At the moment, he just felt like a desperate country, but he drew upon every reserve of eloquence and allure he had to try and convince Romano he loved him, that he had never stopped. It was probably the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. “I love you, Romano. And I’ll keep saying it until you hear me. I love you, I picked you and I’ll keep picking you, no matter how much you think I’m going to leave you for Veneziano or anyone else.”
Romano tried to hit him again, and this time his fist connected with Spain’s head.
But it didn’t really hurt. “Y-you bastard. I don’t forgive you.”
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“No.”
“Please.”
“No.”
“I love you.”
“Fuck off.”
“The only person I want to be fucking is you.”
Romano stopped struggling. “…why?”
Spain thought about what he could say. He decided on the truth. “I’m not sure. All I know is that I do.”
“Prove it.”
“I will. Every single day. If you’ll-”
“I’ll let you. But only because I’m so fucking good to you.”
Spain smirked. Everything was going to be okay. Crisis averted, he decided to take advantage of their position on the floor (Roma had been ignoring him for so long!) and ground his hips down against Romano’s in a hard circle. This time, not in any way to stop Romano from squirming. It was more of an invitation, really. “We’ve got half an hour until the conference starts up again…”
The clock was blinking just past one in the morning. Romano hadn’t been able to sleep. The day had been too much, too fast, and his mind wouldn’t let him rest. Instead, it played out every scene from the afternoon in minute detail, over and over.
It was just as he was remembering Veneziano’s words about Germany again that he heard the voice at the door. “Brother…?” There was no knock; their house must be really quiet if Romano could hear just the whisper. Maybe he was hearing things.
He was; he was hearing his brother’s voice. Veneziano took the silence as acceptance and quietly tiptoed into his older brother’s room before slipping under the sheets of his bed and joining him. “Is this okay?”
Romano tried to keep his voice neutral. “You tell me.”
Veneziano breathed out a tiny little “ve.” If that was all he had to say, Romano was throwing him out and giving him a matching set of shiners.
“I’m sorry.” He meant it. Romano could tell, because they were both Italy and they were connected.
“That’s not enough.”
“I don’t do it on purpose; at least, ve, I think I don’t.”
Romano huffed into his pillow. “What matters is that you do it.”
“Forgive me?”
This was his chance for revenge. This was his chance to tear his little brother down, for once the victor. Or maybe this was his chance to forgive, for once to be the bigger man instead of sneaking conniving Romano. Or maybe this was his chance to turn around and ask his brother what was going on in his head. Why he did what he did, what he thought and what he felt and maybe offer up his own terrible twisted not-enough feelings so that Veneziano could see that they were real and maybe say something to make them go away. Like ‘You’re fine how you are’ or ‘You’re just as much Italy as I am’ because those were two of the myriad of things that Romano had always wanted to hear.
“Just go to sleep.”
That was sappier than a maple tree. And angstier than… something angsty. So. I started this with the full intention of writing the whole series of events (Romano gets Spain, Veneziano tries to steal Spain and then there is family fighting and Romano-choosing). So much for that. I hope you like it anyways, OP! [oh yeah, not the 2nding or 3rding anon. Just somebody different.]
About Germany: it seemed like a good reason for Romano to hate him. I’d hate a boyfriend that left me for my sibling, frankly.
About Veneziano: he ain’t all bubbles and sunshine. But what a time to pick to reveal that you’ve understood your brother’s reactions all along: “hey bro, been hitting on your man, btw, know about your inferiority complex, think it’s kind of pathetic g2g bye.” He’s not all super villain here, he still asks for forgiveness. But he’s hardly blameless. Yeah.
I think I need to go write something happy now, sheesh.
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Romano wasn’t surprised. xDD PRICELESS
That was so cute, Spain/Romano is always loved. Awesome job Anon! :)
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[thanks]
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To be honest, I think the reason that Veneziano is always going after Romano's boyfriends (at least in THIS fic) is that link they share that you write about - Romano feels Veneziano's desire for forgiveness and his pain when he hits him, I imagine that when Romano is in love Veneziano feels some sort of echo of the same love and desire for that person in himself, and acts on it instead of realizing that he's just feeling his brother's feelings, rather than those of himself... perhaps Romano is just better at separating the feelings of his brother from the feelings of himself, and that's why it doesn't happen in reverse?
Who knows...
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Since I'm the author, I'm probably supposed to know those things. Erm. At the risk of destroying the mystic veil of authornon storyworld omnipotence, I have to admit: I totally wasn't thinking about their connection as a justification for Veneziano's behavior.
What I thought was more along the lines of: N. Italy really does love his big brother, no matter any inner judgments on who's better/more loved/whatever. He looks up to him, so whenever Romano begins seeing someone/brings them home, Veneziano sees them in this golden light of someone who must be so amazing because my brother chose them. He gets closer to them out of his own infectiously agreeable personality, and before he knows it they're starting to show attraction back to him, and he already thought "wow he/she's so wonderful..." and before he knows it he's boyfriend-yoinked. Again.
But your explanation actually makes more sense, especially in the context of the world I set up... aw man. You're awesome. So taking off of your idea, I'd imagine the reverse doesn't happen because Romano is a stubborn old curmudgeon, and he knows his own damn feelings thank you very much, and nothing's going to sway him. Goddamn it Veneziano, that guy's not that great, keep it in your pants. Don't look at me so innocently, I know what you're thinking!
And /overprotectivebigbrother.
I should probably stop now.
(Thank you for reading, everybody)
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I liked your interpretation of Veneziano (also prefers Romano for some reason...) and Spain is such a sweetie~ <3 Massive <3s and internets for your Spain there. He's just perfect. And Romano! *hugs* So perfect, so awesome.
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!
It's fine as it is, but if you wanted to write the beginning part too, well, I won't complain. Not that you have to if your busy and stuff...just saying.
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Romano's my favorite character, so it's not hard at all for me to give him a happy ending / make Veneziano a villain for a bit. Glad you liked Spain! This meme is really giving me love-declaration practice.
YOU'RE WELCOME!
At the moment I have no real ideas for a prequel. Maybe sometime, I won't give any concrete no, but right now I've got too much on my plate. I'm sorry OP... ;_;
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I'm so glad to see this request filled and so wonderfully too! I hope to encounter more of your work!
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This (beside being awesome) gave me the odd impression of knowing your writing style. Are you writing another epic fill with Spain/Romano here on the meme, or am I just being a creep?
Probably the second. Sorry. Also, Captcha: 'stuck in' in second gear / And it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, / or even your year but../ I'LL BEEEE THERE FOR YOUUUUU / WHEN THE RAIN STARTS - "Goddamnit, stop it, Antonio, I'm trying to sleep here!"
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"But Lovi, it reminds me of us! YOU'VE BURNED YOUR BREAKFAST SO FAR, THINGS ARE GOING GRRRRRrrrrreeeEEEEAAAAaaaaTTtTTtT-" SMASH "Next time it'll be more than a bookend shitface, it'll be the whole fucking shelf. Now get your ass back in here, I'm cold."
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And d'aawww~ that little drabble at the bottom of your comment is so cute! I'd pay to see a continuation of that, if I had more than *unimportant foreign currency* in my wallet.
I'd love a link to your other works then too, author!anon. I hope you get to see this!
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