Bread (North Italy x Country!Reader)

"Come on, (y/n)~! Let's-a go to the park!" North Italy happily requested as he lightly tugged on my arm.

"Alright, but why?" I was more than happy that we were going to the park and that I was going to spend more time with my first and best friend (and secret crush).

"Vee~! It's-a surprise, bella!"

I couldn't help but chuckle at his enthusiasm and followed him to the park.

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"Alright. So, what now?" I asked, lightly rocking back and forth with anticipation. We were right in front of a decent sized creek that was dotted with ducks here and there.

"We-a toss the bread to the ducks!" North Italy happily expressed, pulling out a few slices of bread from the loaf he brought with him and handing a few to me.

"Okay~!" I giggled, accepting the slices, tearing them to pieces, and tossing them to some nearby ducks. The ducks waddled over adorably to the pieces and started nibbling at them. One looked up at me, waddled over to me, and looked up at me with hopeful eyes.

"Aww~! Bella, he-a likes you!" North Italy cooed, tossing a slice to it, earning a happy series of quacks from the duck. After a minute of silence and us tossing some slices and pieces of bread to the ducks, North Italy reminisced, "You-a know, this-a reminds me of-a when Grandpa Rome would-a take me, Romano, and France some place like-a here and do this-a. We-a could be there-a for an entire day."

I smiled thinking about how he loved talking about his childhood with Rome. But why did he mention France? Granted, France was about the same age as he was but… why?

"Hey, Italy?"

"Sì, bella?"

"I love spending time with you but why did you ask me to come here with you?"

"B-because… ti amo, bella," he said, looking at me with his bubbly honey gaze and a slight pink tint came across this face.

"Italy, you know I don't understand Italian," I sighed, leaning against the bench we were sitting on.

"Okay. 'Bella' means-a beautiful," he simply replied.

"Wh-wait. You think that I'm beautiful?" I couldn't believe what I just heard. North Italy, the bubbly pasta-loving nation, just told me something that I hadn't heard in centuries.

"Sì," he replied again but didn't look me in the eyes so he started feeding the ducks again.

"Okay," I turned so that I was fully facing him. "What does 'ti amo' mean?"

North Italy hesitated and looked off to the side before leaning in and lightly yet lovingly kissed me. It wasn't long but it was long enough to enjoy it. He pulled away slightly, looking me dead in the eyes, he answered whispering, "I-a love you."

A small smile danced across my face as I lovingly ruffled his hair (taking care in not touching the curl); pecked him and said, "I love you too."

(Extended ending)

"Why did your grandad bring France with you and Romano?"

"France is my fratello. Why-a do you ask, bella?"

"Aw, heck no! I don't believe that you are related to someone like France," I deadpanned.  

Before he could answer, the duck that been in front of me, suddenly jumped onto North Italy's lap and sat down. It looked up at me and quaked.