Sanders Sides Parenting/Kids One-Shots

(114) He Can't Speak English? - Royality

Summary: When Patton was a child he took a family trip to Italy and met a new Italian friend. Now as a teenager he hopes to see that friend again... and maybe develop their relationship to more than just pen pals.

This is based off a Royality one-shot I read called 'The Boy Who Doesn't Speak English' by @MT_Reade  

Also not me basing the piazza off a random one I found in a random town in Google Maps (1 Piazza Duomo in Nola).

Words: 1119

Patton travelled to Italy with his parents every summer as his older relatives were there. They lived in a small Italian village so lots of Patton's childhood summers were spent in strange parks or high streets with gibberish on the walls.

When Patton was around five years old his aunt and cousins had taken him to the local town, his older cousins went shopping while Patton entertained himself in a large piazza outside of a cathedral, it had nothing around it but ancient stone but the elementary schooler was entertained anyway. The other people in the space didn't bother the American tourists and in fact avoided them - speaking nonsense quickly to each other and pointing at the newcomers like they were clowns brought to entertain. Patton didn't mind though.

On the cathedral steps a tanned boy sat in red shorts and a loose t-shirt, watching the American chatter and scream to himself with a couple of family members. The boy couldn't understand a word of what they were saying and was even thinking about how they could make those sounds. He had been learning English since he was three years old and all he could understand was 'hello' and a three little piggies song his older brother taught him. It seemed amazing this boy was saying complicated words so quickly.

Was the American boy coming over? The Italian boy just tilted his head as the second boy spoke in a drawl-ly accent that seemed impossible - so the boy just stared. "Do you know what play means?" Patton chirped, reaching out his hand but the boy didn't take it. "Do you know what I'm saying?" Patton came closer just so the boy could look at his lips better.

The boy blinked a couple of times and tilted his head, his curly brown hair bouncing a little and flowing in the wind. "Hello?" He tried - only to find the American look at him confused.

"What's your name?" Wait - he knew this one. This was a question he learnt last week and he knew how to formulate the answer. The boy took a few seconds to think and pay attention to the way his mouth moved around the strange sounds.

"My-a... name is... Roman?" Roman knew his name but pretty much had to guess everything else in order to communicate. The American seemed happy with that answer and sat next to him with a smile on his face, staring up at the decorations around the church like it was the prettiest place in the world. It was pretty - it was just Roman's normal. The Italian wanted to ask the new boy for his name too but he didn't know how. Luckily, he answered that request before asking.

"I'm Patton! And I'm from America, you?" Roman was silent and confused again with the question that was way above his after school conversation classes. Patton realised this and thought more about what this boy would understand and what words he remembered his family saying. "Ciao?"

Roman looked more excited than before. "Parli italiano?" He asked, then spoke more quickly and sounded just like all the family Patton was visiting. Eventually he realised now Patton was confused. He paused and then spoke again. "Sai cos'è il solletico?" Before Patton could react to anything Roman's hands reached him and started tickling the American with no revenge. And that was how they played, tickling each other and chasing each other until Patton's family was ready to leave and Roman could return home.

*****

It was a normal Italian dinner, Patton had just had an exhausting day at high school and his parents were all chatting through old memories since Patton's older sibling was visiting from college. All Patton focused on was the pasta in front of him and maybe getting some sleep. "Do you remember your Italian friend you met at the piazza?" Patton's mother asked and smiled at her son who just raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"Oh, you'll remember! I think you were about five years old and you met a local boy outside the cathedral to play with!" The mother spoke of this situation as if it were yesterday - Patton just felt like his mother had finally lost her sanity and he just wanted to eat some good spaghetti bolognese. "We tried to keep you two in contact but life just got in the way for us - so that cathedral playdate was the only time you two saw each other."

Now Patton was gathering a vague memory of this event (helped by the many photos his father had brought in during the conversation) he was curious about where Roman went, and what he'd done since he was five. I mean - obviously a lot had happened but it would be interesting to find out. He could use a new friend...

"If Pat gets an Italian boyfriend Nonna might actually accept him." Patton's sibling joked, wrapping an arm around their little brother and laughing as Patton went into a blush. No way the random Italian boy he met eleven years ago was gay too. Still, he needed to find out what Roman was like.

So the solution was to get one of the photos and head to Twitter. He made a post he secretly knew would be buried, added a picture of his teen self (he chose one of him at pride so he would avoid Roman if he became a homophobe) and a photo of him with Roman, and he added text. When he sent it off to the internet he didn't think much of it and went to bed.

*****

Patton was sitting with his friends during lunch period when his phone started exploding with notifications. But one notification stood out in particular: a response tweet from 'Roman Ferrari'.

'Hey dolcezza, I heard you were looking for me?'

Attached to the tweet was a picture of a teen the same age as Patton, dark olive skin and dark eyes with brown curly hair as he wore a white button-up with red pants. His gaze was somewhat seductive at the camera with a soft smile that made Patton's heart flutter. His friends asked who this cutie was and Patton only managed to respond with a soft mumble. His eyes landed on a shape in the background that was a universal sign... A rainbow pride flag.

Patton's friends were screaming as soon as he pointed out the pride flag, calling this entire situation a Disney movie and delegating wedding tasks to each other. As the friends chatted Patton brought up Twitter and opened Roman Ferrari's private messages.

'You're too sweet XD - Maybe we should FaceTime sometime?'