Where The Heart Is Ch.10

disclaimer: i do not own hetalia

Where The Heart Is

Chapter Ten: Theft


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Antonio and everyone else glare at Romulus. "They are ours legally, Romulus." He says bitterly and Romulus shrugs. "They are mine now. I went and got legal guardianship from a letter I found from my dear late sister Serafina saying that if I were to return they would all be mine. Now come on boys." Romulus orders and Feliciano begins to cry, running into Ludwig's arms. "Feli, you can see Ludwig still at school and such, it is alright." Their uncle says sweetly as he pulls Feliciano off of Ludwig.

Marcelo glares at Romulus as Peter hugs him tightly, crying into his chest. "Same goes for you two. Do not worry. Now go to the cars boys." Romulus commands and the two younger brothers leave while Romano stands next to Matthew, glaring darkly at his uncle. "What about me?" He asks and Romulus smiles. "You can see Matthew as well, and all of your other school frien-!" "What about Antonio?" Romano screams, grabbing the Spaniard's arm and pulling him closer. "And Berwald, Tino, Gilbert, and to a very small extent Francis!" we don't want to leave them! I refuse to stand idly by and watch my brothers hearts get broken! Just leave us be!"

Romulus sighs and holds up custody papers. "You don't have a choice, Romano. Not for another year, when you turn sixteen." Romano looks up at Antonio sadly. "S-stop him, damnit!" Antonio looks away. "I can't…Romano…legally you're all his…" Tears begin to form in Romano's eyes and he buries his face in Antonio's sleeve. "B-but…I…" The teen chokes back a sob and Antonio feels his heart sink. "Please don't cry, Romano…" "I-I'm not crying, bastard!"

Romulus, growing increasingly uncomfortable from all the glares he is receiving, grabs Romano and leads him out.


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Romulus' house:

Romulus brings the boys inside. "Now why don't we-?" The man gets cut off by Romano punching him in the jaw. "THAT is for making my brothers cry…" Romano says before taking his brothers' hands and going upstairs into a room. "F-fratello…I-I don't want to live without Gilbert and Ludwig…" Feliciano whispers and lays his head down on one of Romano's thighs. "I know…don't worry Feliciano." Romano says, reaching down and stroking the boy's hair. "It isn't fair!" Marcello cries, burying his head into Romano's other thigh.

"It will be alright, Marcello…" Romano mutters and begins to stroke his hair as well. "Let's just see how things go tomorrow…"


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Next morning:

The three boys wake up, snuggled up in bed. "Good morning boys! I have brought you breakfast!" Romulus says sweetly and hands them the food. "I'm not hungry!" Romano hisses and shoves the food back into his arms. "Roma, I was given custody of you…I wasn't just going to let you live with a bunch of strangers when you could live with me." Romulus says and Romano glares darkly at him. "You are more of a stranger than ANY of them!" Feliciano and Marcello nod in agreement as they eat.

"I see…I am going downstairs. I will see you boys later." Romulus says and leaves. As soon as he can hear the man going downstairs, Romano glares at his brothers. "Why are you eating his food?" Both boys look up at him sadly and cry in unison. "We eat when we're upset!" Romano groans.


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A week later at school:

Romano runs over to Matthew and hugs him tightly as Feliciano does the same to Ludwig and Marcello with Peter. "I missed you guys!" The three brothers say in unison. "You…realize you're…hugging me…right Romano?" Matthew asks a little weirded out. "Shut up and fucking hug me, fucking maple bastard!" Romano yells, his face buried in his friend's shoulder. "Right, right…but you do realize I'm not Antonio, right?" Matthew points out as he hugs the boy back. "Shut up!"

"We better hurry to class." Kiku says calmly as the two younger brothers cling to him. "Hm…that's true…" Romano says as his brothers back away. "After school I'll be staying here a little late." He says and his brothers nod. "I'll be staying after to." They both say in unison. "….Right…" Romano mutters before they all head to class.


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After school:

Romano sneaks out of school and runs over to Antonio's house. "R-Romano?" Antonio gasps and reaches out to pull the boy inside, only to have Romulus come up and pull Romano away. "What are you doing Romano? You're just as bad as your brothers! You can't see these men anymore!" Romulus glares at Antonio. "And if you come near him, or vice versa, I will have you arrested!"

"WHAT? THAT'S NOT-!" Romano gets cut off by Antonio. "I understand, Romulus. I won't go near your nephew anymore…" The Spaniard says sadly and Romano glares at the ground. "Good, let's go home Romano." Romulus says, leading him to the car where Feliciano and Marcello already are.


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Romulus' house:

Romano stomps into the kitchen, following Romulus as his brothers run upstairs. "What the fuck was that? Why exactly did you want us anyways? You haven't spent any time with us, didn't even get us Christmas presents. Christmas being the day you fucking kidnapped us!" Romulus glares at Romano, sending a chill down the boy's spine. "Go upstairs. NOW." Romano glares back before stomping upstairs.

Romulus groans and sits down on the couch, grabbing the phone and calling someone. "Hello? Yes, I've gotten them. That's right, feel free to come at anytime…A month? I understand, you are pretty far away, after all." He says, laughing a little. "Alright, goodbye."

Romulus gets up and puts the phone on the hook before heading upstairs. "Hello boys." He says, staring as Feliciano and Marcello cry in Romano's arms. "I obviously can't trust you to behave. But I can understand. It's hard to adjust, do in order to help you I will have you stay in the house for the next month." Romano's glare darkens to where it actually makes Romulus a little nervous. "Get. Out. Now."

"F-fine. I am out." Romulus says before quickly, but calmly, leaving the room. "No, fratello! Now we can't see anyone!" Feliciano cries, hugging Romano tighter. "I thought uncle Romulus loved us! Why is he doing this?" Marcello sobs, snuggling up to his older brothers. "I don't know, but I'll find out." Romano says determinedly.


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Next day:

Antonio storms into Tino and Berwald's house where everyone, including the teens, are sitting together. "ESE DIABLO ES UN HIJO DE PUTA! LO MATO! LO MATO BRUTALMENTE!*" He fumes and sits down next to Matthew, who is fuming as well. "I know you guys, but he has legal custody. The only way he won't is if Mr. Vargas comes back. And even then…our little Marcello couldn't…" Tino says sadly and Antonio sighs. "I'm sorry Tino; I know we are all upset."

"They're locked in the house for a month." Matthew says bitterly, gaining everyone's attention. "What? When did this happen?" Ludwig asks, enraged, and Matthew stares at the ground. "Last night. Romano texted me, said just what I did and then I think Romulus took their phones." Tino slams his fist into the wall, creating a large whole. "That bastard is locking them up to keep them away from us. If it weren't illegal…I'd kill him." He hisses and Berwald pulls him into a hug to try and calm him down.

"We're stuck. We can try to get custody…but he is a blood relative, he has a much better chance then us." Gilbert groans, leaning back in his chair. "What about…the letter? Do you think it's real?" Kiku asks and everyone looks at him. "A forgery…? I never thought of that…" Francis says and Peter jumps up. "It has to be a forgery! We must get it back! We must steal it! Then we can test it and see if it's real, right?" The young boy asks and Arthur shakes his head. "Romulus is no fool, he's probably gotten rid of it by now." Peter sinks back into his seat. "…Oh…"

Berwald pats the boy on the head. "It'll work out, Peter. We might have a case. We have been taking care of them for a while and doing well. Not to mention we still have the written will where she says it's us." Tino looks over to him bright eyed. "Berwald, you're a genius! I love you!" He hugs the now blushing man before kissing him quickly. "We should fight for custody!" Gilbert exclaims and Antonio nods. "Let's do it!"

As the adults celebrate their idea, Matthew looks over to the teens. "Anyone else worried about why they're locked up for a month?" Alfred looks at him confused. "Why would that make us worry? Nothing happens in a month." Arthur hits him on the head. "That's the problem you git." Alfred looks at him confused and Nate speaks up. "It means he's planning something in a month." Peter frowns and nods. "Hopefully they aren't going to move or something…" Kiku gasps. "That's it! He is going to bring them to their father! That has to be it!"

They all look over to the adults. "G-guys! Guys!" The teens exclaim and the adults look at them confused. "What is it?" Francis asks and Matthew speaks up. "Romulus is giving them to their father!" Tino shakes his head no. "That's impossible. If he did why would he take Marcello?" Matthew deflates a little. "Maybe he just jumped the gun and took Marcello but will return-?" "No, he would take Marcello for that as well." Antonio says and Tino looks at him confused. "Really?"

The Spaniard nods. "He loves Marcello as well. He sees him as an extension of his own sons, not to mention the creation of the woman he loved." "So it is their father…" Kiku says and Antonio shrugs. "I don't know. It doesn't make sense to give them to him. It is way too dangerous. The only reason I can think of is that the people looking for him are here and Mr. Vargas is having Romulus help him rescue them…"

Tino frowns. "Then maybe we should leave them with-" "NO!" Antonio, Ludwig, and Peter yell in unison. "I can't live without Marcello with me!" Peter cries and Ludwig nods sternly. "I refuse to lose Feliciano." "I just made progress with Lovi! I will not, WILL NOT, let that be ruined! I've been waiting for to long!" Antonio yells and Matthew looks down sadly. "What if it's for their safety? Can you really just let them…?"

"We can protect them." Gilbert says comfortingly and Matthew shakes his head. "No you can't! I don't know much about Mr. Vargas and what he's done, I don't know at all actually, but I do know these people will know what they're-!" The blond is silenced by Gilbert placing a finger over his lips. "Birdie, do you know how us adults, with the exception of Berwald, can live so comfortably?" Matthew shakes his head no. "Well Birdie…" He looks to the other men who nod reassuringly. "We were negotiators for Mr. Vargas at a young age." Gilbert explains and Matthew laughs a little. "You? I can't see you negotiating with anyone without violence."

The silver haired man looks away awkwardly. "Well…about that…w-we kinda used violence. A lot of it. It was sort of our thing. Me, Francis, and Antonio worked in one group known as the 'Bad Friends Trio' and Tino worked with Ivan and Wang Yao…I don't know what they were known as, didn't have anything to do with me so-!" He notices an annoyed look on Matthew's face. "R-right…rambling…anyways, we still have our weapons we used to use. And we used them very well, might I add. So we can protect them easily. It's one of the reasons Serafina chose us and Mr. Vargas chose Antonio."

Matthew looks at him confused. "How did we not know?" Francis laughs and drapes an arm over his cousin's shoulders. "You were young, mon ami. If it wasn't toys or your friends, you didn't really care. Not to mention you tried to ignore most of the things I did anyways." Matthew rolls his eyes. "That's because most of those 'things you did' were boys and girls from school. And our old principle."

"So at any rate, we will fight for custody, right?" Antonio asks and everyone nods. "Great! I'm going to gather all of the legal papers Mr. Vargas gave me for Romano! You should all do so to! Berwald, you schedule a meeting!" Everyone nods and leave the house. "So that's how you all live so well…" Peter says before looking to Tino and Berwald with a smile. "And could adopt me." Tino smile nods as Berwald leaves to look for the documents. "That's right. We could not just stand idly by and watch as Arthur's dear little cousin goes homeless."

Peter laughs a little. "I still can't believe Arthur begged you to save me." Tino pats him on the head. "He did. In fact, the way we raised you is also a major reason Serafina chose Berwald and I to raise Marcello, the youngest of her boys."


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Gilbert's house:

Gilbert runs around the house looking frantically for the papers with Matthew's help. "Oh god! It's nowhere!" "What do we do! What do we do!" Matthew cries before Ludwig comes in. "Do you seriously think I would leave Feliciano's connection to us in your unorganized hands?" Gilbert and Matthew look at him and see the documents in his hands. "Ah! Good job Ludwig!" They broth practically scream and hug the now cringing teen. "Don't do that again." Ludwig says before heading to his room.

"Great! I've got the papers now!" Gilbert exclaims and Matthew looks at him for a moment before taking the papers. "I'll give these back to Ludwig to hold onto." "EHHH! BIRDIE~!"


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Antonio's house:

Antonio goes to his house and looks around sadly. He has hung Romano's painting up in the living room and, embarrassingly, brought down the boy's tomato pillow he gave him down to the couch. Of course he brings it to bed to, which Romano will NEVER know. The pillow is comfy after all, and a tomato! How could he not use it? The fact it smells like the boy from being in his bed all of Christmas day and night has NOTHING to do with it. Because that would make him a creeper.

He goes to a file drawer in the kitchen and gets out all the documents and notes he got from Mr. Vargas about him getting Romano. Once he puts them in a folder and sets it on the table he sits down on the couch, hugging the tomato pillow. He is NOT sniffing it when someone knocks on the door. "Tino?" Antonio asks himself before going to the door and opening it. In front of him is a very well groomed and pampered looking man with dark hair and a glare that almost matches Romano's. Almost. "What the fuck is happening with my boys?" He asks and Antonio just stares. "Wh-what are you doing here…Mr. Vargas?"


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a/n: I HATE THIS CHAPTER! that's why it took so long to type this out. i've had it written in my notebook since the night i submitted chapter nine. but i HATE THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH i never wanted to type it. bc it needed to be written to go to the next one. and i dont hate it bc it is sad or whatever, i hate it bc...well...there's to many things to get into. annnyyyyways...next chapter is the last one...and i was wondering...should i make the last chapter 'M'? i mean...i havent written M much...but...should i? i dont particularly care either way, so i'm asking other ppls opinions.