A Taste Of Payback

Everyone Can Cook

"Feeling sassy today are we, Toni? You're still a little softie, you know that?" she loved how sweet and carefree her lover was. It was refreshing and relaxing, a great way to clear her head, but he also gave her a good brain work out.

"When I want to be. Besides, being sassy is Lovino's thing. I wouldn't want to get in the way of him and his tough little ego" he gave out a little laugh as he brought her in for another kiss, sighing contently. This was the life, according to Antonio.  Everything was perfect and right where he wanted it to be. He couldn't care less what was going on with England and France, as long as he had Esmeralda in his arms. The two exchanged in sweet kisses until the sound of someone clearing their throat was heard. Both pulled away and found themselves looking at an impatient Lovino.

"So are any of you ass holes going to cook or are you just going to continue to suck each others faces off?" Lovino was very supportive of the relationship, but that didn't mean he was going to put everything on pause for them.

"Lovino, would it ever hurt you to do some cooking yourself?" Spain asked, beginning to get up from the couch.

Lovino scoffed as Esmeralda put a hand to her lover's chest, stopping him. "Don't act like you don't know the guy. That's a ridiculous idea, I'll go cook us all something" she got off of the couch and was about to enter the kitchen when Romano interrupted her.

"Oh I see, you guys don't think I can cook! I see right through you, you don't think I can operate a kitchen because you guys are practically gods at cooking!" he pointed an accusing finger at the two of them, who just stared at him blankly.

"Yeah, but I was going along the lines of your laziness causing you to not be bothered by having to cook since you have two masters at the ready" Esmeralda explained casually.

Lovino fumed for a bit, trying to find the right words, knowing she was all to correct. "Okay, maybe you're right but...I accept your challenge!"

"Lovino, there was no challenge...I'm literally going to slip into the kitchen and-"

"No Esmeralda! That won't be motherfucking necessary because I am going to show you bastards that I can cook if I'm up to it, and damn am I up to it! So you guys just continue to have sex on the one couch I fucking nap on while I prepare to blow your minds away!" and with that, Lovino ran into the kitchen before any one could object. The sounds of utensils clashing and cursing in Italian quickly filled the air and space around them.

"So...do you think he can do it?" Spain asked as he peered into the kitchen.

Esmeralda shrugged as she went back into his cradle. "I have faith in him, but at the same time, I'm hoping I don't get food poisoning"

Two hours passed, giving enough time for Esmeralda to finally remove the stain and cleaning up, and also, for Lovino to burn the dinner twice and explode his pasta sauce everywhere. After the two hours, Lovino had finally pulled out something edible. He called everyone to the large dining room in a nervous fashion.

"Okay so um, if you don't like my cooking, then I hope you die because I spent two fucking hours on this shit so you are going to eat every last bit!" he seemed proud of himself, but a little scared of criticism.

"Holy shit Lovino, you are the best host ever. So nice and caring" Esmeralda teased him from her spot next to Spain.

"Whatever, my hosting isn't going to matter once you've tried my delicious food" he rolled his eyes and disappeared into the kitchen to bring out his first attempt at cooking.

"You ready to see what our little friend made for us?" Spain asked, glancing at Esmeralda.

"He seemed confident....Kind of? I don't know, I just wanna trust him on this" Esmeralda knew from experience that the key to Lovino was trust,  it was all he needed; trust and love.

"Yeah, you're right. But hey, I want to kiss you one last time before I die of food poisoning" he gave her charming smile from over his glass of wine.

"You're not going to get poisoned!" she laughed at his silliness, but happily complied, leaning over to plant their lips together.

Later, Lovino came back out with silver trays full of food, the tops of the trays hiding the identity of the meal. Spain went to sneak a look, but the Italian smacked his hand away from the lid. "No peaking! Now, without further or do, enjoy your spaghetti and meatballs, you fuckers" he plopped himself down ,carelessly throwing the lid of the tray to the side and began shoving his mouth with his creation.

Esmeralda and Antonio shared a side ways glance, spaghetti and meatballs was such a basic dish, it was always delicious, even if it was Lovino who cooked it, so the two shrugged and dug in.

"Wow! Lovino, you have some real potential!" Spain genuinely complemented him as he took a sip from his wine to wash down the food.

"Oh yeah? I told you I could cook, just don't get used to it because that's the last time I'm ever cooking. That kitchen is hell" he spoke in between mouth fulls. The meal was an overall success, leaving everyone  with a full belly and down right tired.

"Lovino...seriously, that was pretty good. Great job man. See Toni, I told you not to doubt me" Esmeralda gave Romano a celebratory hug.

"Yeah well...I'm tired so I'm going to leave the cooking to you guys from now on. Goodnight" he yawned and exited the scene, ruffling Esmeralda's hair in the process.

"Are we going to tell him it totally sucked?" Antonio smirked over at Esmeralda as they began to pick up the dishes.

"No way! Come on, it wasn't that bad. We did eat every single bite, didn't we?" Esmeralda brought her set of plates over to the bucket of water, already set up, and began washing the pasta sauce off of them.

"Yeah you're right. It's better to just keep him happy. Such a funny guy" Spain shook his head, chuckling slightly and stationed himself next to Esmeralda.

Once all the evidence of Lovino's cooking escapade was erased, Esmeralda let out a loud yawn. It was extremely late by now and the cleaning only made her more tired as she already was. All she wanted was a soft bed.

"A little tired are we? Cleaning up after Lovino sure is a lot of work. I can see why you're always napping" he smiled, making his way over to her and wrapping Esmeralda in a loving embrace.

"I think 'a little', doesn't even cut it. I'm gonna pass out...on that table...right now" her voice was low with exhaustion as she buried her face into Spain's chest.

"Oh but that's not comfortable! Come on, I'll carry you to bed" the Spaniard easily lifted her up and walked over to his bedroom, kicking the door open with his foot and gently setting her down under the covers of the large, warm bed and quickly climbing in himself. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him so that her back was touching his chest. Her arm snaked down and rested on top of his arm, interlacing their fingers and bringing their hands close to her face. Nothing shone in the room but the moonlight as the cool breeze swept in from an open window. Small animals such as crickets were heard over the sound of their steady breathing.

"Goodnight" Spain broke the silence and kissed the top of her head.

"Goodnight" Esmeralda mumbled, about to cross the door into sleep.

Silence once more.

"I love you, princessa"

"Love you too, Toni"