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English
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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
Words:
720
Chapters:
1/1
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1
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17
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1,027

Fic: Italian Lessons -- Hot Fuzz

Summary:

Nicholas finds something he's no good at -- answer to learning new things challenge at Aphrodite's Blessings

Work Text:

Inspector Nicholas Angel stood at attention in front of the half length mirror in his bedroom. As usual, his uniform was clean and crisp. He’d already gone through his morning ritual of a shower, close shave, and brushing his teeth.

A CD player sat on his night stand. A pleasant female voice filled the room. “Good morning.” She paused for a brief moment before translating in Italian. “Buongiorno.”

There was a longer pause. Nicholas tried to wrap his tongue around the word. After three tries, he finally stuttered it out. “Buongiorno.”

“Good evening…Buonasera.”

Nicholas glared at his reflection. He gave it another three tries before he managed to get some semblance of the word past his lips. “Buonasera.”

“Thank you…Grazie.”

The pleasant voice was steady and encouraging, but Nicholas couldn’t help but feel that she was mocking him. He cleared his throat. “Grazie,” he tried repeating but knew that he sounded nothing like she did.

“You’re welcome…Prego.”

Nicholas grunted in frustration. “Going through riot training wasn’t this hard. Prego.”

“Excuse me…Mi scusi.”

“Mi scusi,” Nicholas tried but completely butchered it. “Getting stabbed in the hand wasn’t this bad.” He whirled from the mirror, stalked over to the nightstand, and turned the CD off.

He jammed his hat on, slipped on his sunglasses, and went out into the sunny morning. He used the ten minute walk to the station to practice ways of telling Danny that he didn’t want to go on vacation to Italy. “Danny, I’ve thought about it and I can’t take that much time off.”

He shook his head at himself. “I’m afraid the cost of air fare is prohibitive.”

He frowned. He pictured Danny biting on his lower lip, trying to put a brave face on his disappointment. His gut twisted. “I really can’t stand Italian food. Who will water my peace lily?”

“It all sounds so utterly asinine,” he grumbled under his breath. He rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, Danny. I’m making a muck of trying to learn Italian.”

Upon arrival, he found Danny standing outside talking to two old women wearing blue and red Sandford t shirts proclaiming it Village of the Year eight times running. Danny helped them hold open a huge map. Danny grinned and pointed towards the other side of the village.

Nicholas stopped short when he could finally hear their voices. All three of them were speaking rapid fire Italian. He swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat.

The women laughed, nodded to Danny, and hurried on their way. They looked back to wave. He grinned wider and waved back.

Nicholas didn’t realize that he was standing rigidly still until Danny turned that grin on him. His muscles relaxed of their own accord. His feet moved of their own volition when Danny waved him over.

“Those were some nice ladies,” Danny said cheerfully. “They come from a small village just outside of Rome.” He held up his notebook triumphantly. “They gave me the names of some great local restaurants.”

Nicholas smiled tightly. “I heard you. It seems that your Italian is coming along nicely.”

“Thanks.” Danny rocked back and forth on his heels. His whole body absolutely radiated good cheer. “The ladies thought so too. They said my accent wasn’t too bad. They even thought I’d been studying Italian for years instead of months.”

Nicholas’ heart sank. “That’s great.”

Danny nudged Nicholas. “But I’m sure I’m not as good as you. I’m only on disc four. I’m sure you’re already on disc six. You can do anything,” he stated as if the thought of Nicholas’ failure never crossed his mind.

Nicholas felt the flush creeping up the back of his neck. He stared at the cobblestones beneath his feet. “So can you.”

“I’m so excited.”

Nicholas shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Look, Danny, about the trip…”

Danny ducked his head to see Nicholas’ face. He frowned in concern. “Nicholas, is something wrong?”

Nicholas sighed. He bit his bottom lip. “No.”

“You can tell me,” Danny coaxed gently.

“I’m only on disc one,” Nicholas mumbled.

Danny leaned closer. “What?”

Nicholas turned his head so that his lips were close to Danny’s ear. “I’m only on disc one. I’m just not getting it.”

Danny touched Nicholas’ elbow. “That’s all right,” he said warmly.

“You’re not disappointed in me?”

Danny gave a slight squeeze. “No way,” he whispered earnestly. “You’re still the best and I still love you.”

A small, but genuine, smile slipped onto Nicholas’ face. “And I give thanks for that every day.”