Bèsame Mucho

Chapter 6

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Bésame Mucho Chapter 6, a hetalia | axis powers fanfic

By the time they ambled slowly back to the tree-lined path, the sky had grown dark, the half-full moon beaming through a gap in the clouds to faintly illuminate the surrounding fields. The herb-scented wind was turning colder by the minute, a chilling breeze that promised a swift and bitter change to the mild winter weather. Yet for all Antonio cared, the sky could have been raining fire. Mere hours earlier, he'd been prepared for death. Now, his head was giddy with joy, and he had to keep looking down at his arm around Lovino's waist to make sure this was real. Lovino limped heavily on his ankle as they walked, his body warm where it pressed sideways against Antonio, his hands fidgeting awkwardly like he did not know what to do with them. He always did look so beautiful in the moonlight.

"And that one there..." Antonio pointed up at the infinite, star-clustered sky, "…is called the wheelbarrow!"

"The wheelbarrow?" Lovino repeated flatly, his expression a complicated mixture of mirth, derision, and outright pity.

"Yes!" said Antonio, blithely ignoring Lovino's tone. Right now, he was more than happy to be subjected to Lovino's scorn. After those paralysing moments hiding from a German patrol, Antonio was more than happy with any reaction from Lovino that wasn't utter terror or misguided embarrassment. This was Antonio'sreal duty, after all – his happy, real, important duty - to distract his little Italian from his own darkness. Whether that meant dancing in an empty cantina, or giving him riddles shaped like tomatoes, or, currently, pretending to be an astronomer. "The outer moons form the handles there, and there, and that asteroid belt looks like a bit of grass stuck in the wheel, do you see?"

"No." Lovino did not even bother looking. The sky was just light enough to show the gold in his eyes, and the suppressed laughter behind them. "There is no constellation called the wheelbarrow. You made it up. You're makingall this up."

Antonio managed an exaggerated, affronted huff. "I am not!"

Lovino raised a sceptical eyebrow. "The Big Tomato?"

"Hey?" Antonio actually thought that one was fairly believable. "The Big Tomato is a very ancient, very important constellation!"

"To who?"

"To… uh…" Antonio thought quickly. "…the druids."

"The druids?" Lovino nearly scoffed outright. "Despite the fact that tomatoes originated in Mexico, and were not grown in Britain until the late sixteenth century?"

Antonio determinedly pressed on. "Yes. The Big Tomato was a very important constellation to the Mexican druids."

Lovino's breath spun warm in the cold evening air, catching in a hitch before it could turn to laughter. He quickly looked away, impatiently brushing a stray lock of hair. "Your understanding of history is as exhaustive as your knowledge of constellations."

"Thank you, Lovino!" said Antonio brightly, ignoring Lovino's familiar nerves and barely veiled sarcasm. He just pointed again up at a bright cluster of stars. "That one, there, is Orion's Collar."

"Belt, actually."

Antonio had no idea where he was pointing, and was quite aware that Lovino knew it too. "And there's the Big Bear..."

"Ursa Major," Lovino sighed, but with the tiniest tug at the corner of his lip. "And it's overthere."

"And oh, there's my favourite." Antonio pointed directly at the brightest star in the sky, shining brilliantly through a gap in the grey, misty clouds. He knew this one. "Venus. I like Venus."