A Taste Of Payback

A Toast to Growth

"I won't let you take me away, you bastard! I can walk perfectly fine! I'm not even tired, stop wasting your time!" Lovino punched Spain's back but when the pounding in his head grew stronger from all the yelling, he groaned and allowed himself to become limp on Spain's shoulder. "You've won this round, but you better sleep with you eyes closed. No wait...that didn't come out right..." his words seemed to lack structure as they slurred together with drunken exhaustion.

Spain began to carry him up the stairs and Esmeralda followed closely behind after setting the wine back on the table. Lovino was drooling onto Spain's back and would stare at the soaked spot on the yellow shirt with a look of disgust before drooling on it all over again. Antonio easily climbed up the stairs, the Italian's weight having no effect on him at all. As Antonio made the left that would lead them to Lovino's room, said Italian looked up at Esmeralda's face and smiled.

"Hey bella, you come here often?" he wiggled his eyebrows lazily as he tried to pull some auburn hair out of his face but ended up smacking himself. He glared at the offending hand before turning back to Esmeralda.

"Yeah I live here" she crossed her arms and gazed up at him as he began trying once again to get the hair out of his face. His arms would quit halfway, causing the hair to fall back over his face and he would spazz out and try to frantically swap his hair away by waving his hands in front of his face as if there was a swarm of bees in  the house. She groaned and uncrossed her arms, using them to reach out and delicately place the long straight strands away from his face. "There, now stop moving around so much" she looked past the two guys to see Spain opening Romano's door and leading them inside the dark room.

Lovino beamed up at Esmeralda and thanked her for removing the hair from his face. "You, my dear, are a motherfucking angel sent from the lord. Do I look pretty now?" he was going to continue, but thankfully, Spain plopped the drunk mess on it's bed a little harder then necessary and Lovino's forming words turned into an  "Oof!" sound as he yelled at Spain while rubbing at his elbow protectively.

"Gorgeous" she rolled her eyes as she looked down at him while he tossed and turned in the bed, trying to tell them that he wasn't tired or drunk but Spain kept cutting him off by pushing him back down on the bed every time he sat up and trying to reason that he needed to rest. After deciding that the whole scene in front of her was too ridiculous, she nudged Spain and headed towards the door. "Come on, just leave him alone and he'll pass out eventually" Spain gladly obliged and followed suit, closing the door behind him and skipping down the stairs.

Once back in the living room, Spain happily plopped back down on the sofa with a sigh. Esmeralda was about to sit on the sofa across from her but suddenly,

"Wait! Why don't you come sit here instead?" Antonio scooted a little to his left and patted the seat next to him, looking up at her with patient eyes.

 Esmeralda glanced at him, frozen in the process of sitting down. She shrugged, seeing no harm in it, and got comfortable next to the Spaniard. She smoothed out her dress as he wrapped an arm around her tiny, but strong, shoulders. He pulled her close, but she only allowed herself to get just close enough to be engulfed in his warmth, but not close enough to where the Spaniard could call it snuggling. Antonio reached out and grabbed the bottle of wine, pouring two perfect glasses. He silently offered Esmeralda one before relaxing into the sofa, never taking his arm away from his colony. She took the fancy glass in her hands and looked up at Antonio, watching as dark red wine disappeared between his lips. She tore her eyes away from him and looked down at her beverage as it stared up at her blankly, as if it was tricking her to drink it so it wouldn't have to ask her to take a sip and allow it to fulfill its duties as a beverage. She could feel Antonio shifted softly next to her and she swore they were now pressed against each other.

She brought the glass up to her lips and tipped it so that the liquid could slide over to briskly meet her lips and rush by. She swallowed and held the glass in midair. She could still taste the drink in her mouth, it was sweet and she could catch certain flavors. Raspberry, blackberry, cherry, and was that cinnamon? She took another sip, it was rich and smooth as it trickled down over her tongue and down her throat.

Spain smiled down at her, "I see you like it"

"It's alright" she kept her gaze on her glass. It was alright indeed. The wine was enjoyable, but it didn't exactly tickle her taste buds of that's what Antonio was asking. She preferred something that offered more of a balance of sweet, sour, and tanginess.

"Alright! Do you know how fancy wine is?" Spain shook his head with a chuckle. He looked down at his half filled glass before setting it down near him. "One thing's for sure, you can handle alcohol a lot better than Lovino. Poor guy can't hold his liquor to save his life. At least he's better than Kirkland. Anyways, I think that's the first and last time I'm going to allow Lovino to have more than one glass of anything alcoholic"

Esmeralda listened to him speak with a fondness, "I should hope so". Spain let out a soft laugh and then that was it. Silence filled the house except for the clock nearby ticking and the crackling of a fire place, but no more words escaped the nation's mouths. It was perfect, welcomed, warm silence. There was no pressure to speak and Esmeralda shut her eyes, finally leaning against Antonio. She took in a breath and there it was. That scent that she kept smelling when she closed her eyes, except this time it was actually there. The smell of nature and food, so natural instead of that Italian cologne Lovino showered himself with. The cologne smelled fine, but there was something about the way Spain's natural scent that was so desirable and real. She opened her eyes and they made their way up to his face. He was looking off into the distance, not really looking at anything at all. She looked at the way the fire nearby casted shadows on his face and made his tanned skin glow. He wasn't as tan as Lovino and wasn't anywhere near as tan as Esmeralda, but he had a small tint that was just right. His lips were curved up into a relaxed smile, he was clearly enjoying himself. His green eyes shone bright, he always smiled with his eyes and it sent warmth and reassurance through Esmeralda. They were like brilliant emerald stones. Then there was his chestnut brown hair. Short with little fluffy curls that just went off in whatever direction they wanted to, begging to be played with.

Spain felt her gaze and looked down at her slowly, smiling deeper as their eyes met. He didn't say anything, just smiled, and it was enough.