Royalty - Spamano

Arrivederci, Florence

Throughout the week before their departure to Spain, the Vargas brothers said goodbye to their friends at the market and packed their belongings. Though they knew it was a crazy decision, the brothers couldn't help but accept. If they didn't accept the offer they'd be crazy. The King was offering them a chance to escape poverty. 

Though it had been hard to pack all of his belongings with one arm, Lovino managed to do it, and by the time Antonio and Gilbert came by to pick them up, the two brothers had already cleared their entire house and sold the farm to one of the ladies at the market. After watching Antonio's carriage pull up to the farm, Feliciano and Lovino took one last look at their farm and reminisced on the memories forged on the tomato fields. 

"I'll miss it." Lovino muttered to his brother, his eyes glued to the wave of red and green plants in the distance.

"We can always come back if we get too homesick." Feliciano figured, trying to cheer Lovino up. They both knew Spain and Italy were culturally quite similar, but they couldn't help but want to stay. Italy was their homeland after all.

"Are you two ready to go?" Antonio politely called out from the carriage. Gilbert had spent the past few minutes packing all their stuff into a secondary carriage while the two said goodbye to their house. The two looked over their old farm for one last time before turning around and heading over to the delicately crafted carriage. Antonio had explained they would spend the day riding to Livorno, board a boat to Barcelona, and then ride from Barcelona to the palace in Madrid. It was going to take a few days, but as Antonio liked to remind them, it would be worth it. 

The carriage was ridiculously luxurious, with silk curtains and velvet cloth lining the entire interior. Lovino had ridden in it before, but Feliciano had never seen the inside, so when he looked around his mouth dropped open in shock. The little carriage was the fanciest thing either of them had seen. The inside had two benches that faced each other, so when Gilbert motioned for them to enter, the two sat across from the King. 

"So, is your palace as fancy as this carriage?" Feliciano curiously asked as soon as Gilbert shut the door to the carriage. Lovino elbowed him in the rib for asking such a dumb question and Antonio laughed. 

"You'll get used to it. I know it's a bit ridiculous but my parents passed down the reign, along with all their luxuries. Trust me, I'd never buy a carriage so... distasteful." Antonio admitted, still chuckling at the two brother's bickering. Lovino couldn't help feel a bit surprised. He had previously thought all royalty had been super fond of their tacky royal belongings. Antonio was proving him wrong with every minute they spent together. Lovino realized Antonio was far from the typical stereotype of a king. The Spaniard was surprisingly down to Earth and definitely recognized his privilege. Lovino noticed he treated everyone equally, regardless of status. It was refreshing. 

"So, where did you go this week?" Lovino questioned, wondering what Antonio thought of their country. The Italian didn't know why, but he was secretly hoping the Spaniard had gotten a good impression of Italy. Though he would deny it mercilessly, Lovino secretly cared about the King's opinion.

"We went to Venice, Milan, Florence, Rome, and Naples. Then we came back up here to get you two." Antonio answered, smile on his face. Lovino nearly melted at the Spaniard's grin but calmed himself down when he realized he had been staring.

"Which one was your favorite?" Lovino asked, trying to fill the silence with words in an attempt to not feel as awkward. 

"Florence, of course! That's where I met you! Or- uh- hit you with my carriage I guess." Antonio exclaimed, laughing as Lovino's face turned bright red. He suddenly felt super self-conscious with his brother right next to him. He shouldn't have been this flustered. Pulling himself together, he managed to fake a scowl. 

"If you hadn't hit me with your stupid carriage I wouldn't have had to leave the house that I've lived in for 23 years of my life." Lovino growled, attempting to revert back to his usual angry self. He didn't want Antonio to think he was excited about going to live in a castle in Spain. Lovino noticed Antonio's eyes open widely in shock. Obviously no one had ever spoken to him like that before. 

"Oh! So you're 23!" Antonio spoke, diverting the conversation. Lovino smirked to himself as he realized he had just made Antonio uncomfortable. Lovino had just made the literal king of Spain uncomfortable in his own carriage. It was a dream come true. 

"I'm 20!" Feliciano interrupted, not wanting to feel left out in the conversation that was literally happening right in front of him. Neither Antonio nor Lovino had looked at him once. The two had their eyes glued to each other the entire conversation. Feliciano just wanted to feel included. The two seemed to have forgotten that he was there. 

"My best knight is 20! Maybe you two will get along. He's Gilbert's brother, in fact!" Antonio stated, taking his eyes off Lovino for the first time to shoot a smile at Feliciano. Feliciano excitedly beamed and Lovino rolled his eyes. The two continued talking about Gilbert's brother and Lovino tuned them out, staring out the window as they made their way to Livorno. 

For Lovino, it felt a bit strange looking out the window, knowing it was the last time he'd see his old city for a long time. Florence had always been his home and he couldn't believe one broken bone could be tearing him away. Annoyed with his situation, Lovino looked down at his wrapped arm and scowled. It still hurt and it wasn't getting any better with all the moving around and packing up, so he was pretty eager to get to the palace as soon as possible. He knew Antonio probably had some fancy doctor waiting around to fix his injury, and he wasn't complaining. It hurt like hell, kind of like leaving Florence. 

I literally haven't updated this story in a month and I apologize! I've been trying to finish other stories so that I can work on this one but it takes a while and I have NO time... but this month I will try to update this story two, maybe three times! Idk. Anyway, thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed