#antonio doesn't go in assuming savino was being an asshole about the vespa but fruk might

[thatsamericano]

Budgetary Details For This Plot

I’ve decided that the FrUKSpa Christmas budget for the oldest kids (Matthew, Alfred, and Savino) was $2000 each, which they considered a nice round number and a reasonable amount. They’re wealthy, so they’re used to spending way more money than most people, but they wanted to put a limit on 16-year-olds who are playing around with debit cards for the first time and have to get Christmas gifts for seven people. They had a smaller amount of money they gave to Feliciano, and a smaller amount than that for Marcello (without the debit cards being an issue for either of them, of course).

I want Alfred and Savino to have spent an equivalent amount on each other, so back in September, Alfred bought approximately $500 worth of textbooks (because he was trying to buy in three different areas, and was drawn to some huge hardcover textbooks and some smaller paperbacks he thought would would be interesting). He nearly, but not completely, drained his checking account and FrUK were like WTF because Alfred hadn’t made a big, sudden purchase like this before. They talk to him about this, and Alfred says it was a Christmas present for Matthew. They hadn’t expected him to be thinking about Christmas so early and sometimes their family did spend more extravagantly than they could this year because they’re now buying for four additional people, so they forgive the mistake their teen son made only two months after getting a debit card. They explain the Christmas budget to him and say that now the budget will be $1500, so he will have to spend carefully and his presents for everyone else will be much smaller than they could’ve been before.

Savino bought his nearly $500 telescope for Alfred after Antonio explained the budget to him (which happened sometime in November, because I do talk about the kids doing Black Friday/very early December shopping). At this point, Alfred and Savino may or may not have been in a relationship, but that doesn’t matter for the background I’m giving here. Antonio talks to Savino about this, because Antonio is a very laidback guy, but Savino spent a quarter of his Christmas budget on one person when he has to buy things for six other people. Savino gives a very convincing explanation about this being an extremely good telescope for this price point and how he researched it extensively before he made this purchase (all of this is true). Antonio is like, okay, it’s fine you bought this really expensive present for Alfred this year, but make sure you have enough to get other people something without having to go so cheap it looks insulting (and in Savino’s case, he planned to get something for his grandfather, which Alfred couldn’t do, so his presents for the rest of the FrUKSpa plus kids group were a bit smaller-- around $200 rather than $250-ish).

By the time they get to Rome, both of them have maxed out their Christmas budgets, but they do have more walking around money than most 16-year-olds, especially since their parents wanted them to be able to buy a fun souvenir if they wanted (especially Alfred and Matthew, who’ve never been to Italy before). Alfred is able to buy an about $100 present for Mr. Vargas, and each of them spend about $50 to get a joint present for Chiara that is small enough it’s not suspicious (also their money was in cash at the Christmas Market, and Euros obviously). I mentioned them getting souvenirs at the Leonardo da Vinci Experience Museum that are about $77 dollars for Alfred’s and $42 for Savino’s (I’m rounding up), Savino bought a fairly inexpensive scarf for Alfred earlier in the month while Christmas shopping, and Alfred will probably spontaneously Savino a fairly inexpensive hat at the Christmas market. They might have also bought something small for close friends from school before they left for Rome, along with other minor purchases like the things they got at Starbucks at the mall. After Christmas, Alfred and Savino are low on money, but not in immediate danger of going into overdraft, so FrUKSpa aren’t bothered by this. They’re all happy the 16-year-olds (including Matthew) managed to stay within their Christmas budgets and didn’t go crazy buying tons of souvenirs for themselves.

On Christmas, people do notice that Alfred and Savino bought each other expensive presents, especially if one of them unthinkingly says something about it (like Savino looking at all the textbooks and going “Dio, this must have been so expensive.”) Antonio doesn’t really care, and he’s glad it wasn’t too awkward when Alfred got a substantially cheaper gift for Savino than Savino got for him (what he expected to happen). He thinks it’s cute Alfred thinks Savino is talented in so many areas that he picked out all these textbooks for him, and he’s like, “aww, look at this cute mutual friendship.” Matthew and Feliciano are like “okay, you guys went way overboard on each other,” especially since they had a girlfriend and boyfriend who weren’t accounted for in their Christmas budgets and had to plan their purchases more carefully to get them something, but they’re happy with their presents from Alfred and Savino and aren’t mad about it. Nonno Vargas is flattered that Alfred (along with the rest of the FACE Family) got him something at all, and he remembers going nuts with Sofia on present giving occasions sometimes, especially at the beginning of their relationship. (But I think the reason Sofia’s family weren’t happy with the idea of them being together at first was because Augusto was from a poorer family, so the dollar amounts were much smaller than I’m talking about here). Chiara is surprised Alfred helped pay for a present for her, and Savino usually gives her fairly small gifts for Christmas anyway since I don’t think he gets something for each of his twenty cousins and wouldn’t want to make that too obvious with a huge price tag for Chiara’s gift. They understand Chiara and Savino are close, so it’s okay if she gets a little Christmas present from him, but not if it’s some huge thing like he got for Alfred.

For maximum drama points, Marcello is stewing about Romerica after he figures out they must be doing NSFT things together, and he gets pissed when he sees their Christmas presents to each other. I don’t think he’d easily be able to make a price point comparison, but maybe he looks up Alfred’s telescope online and sees that it’s nearly $500 compared to his approximately $200 present from his brother (which to be fair, is still very nice for a nine-year-old and something he would enjoy). The textbooks would be harder for him to figure out since there were multiple ones, but maybe he looks up some of the bigger ones and figures out Alfred’s present to Savino is also substantially more expensive than Alfred’s present to him. He puts on a pleasant face for Christmas and the rest of the Rome trip (which maybe lasts a couple of additional days), and then he decides to blackmail them once they get home.

FrUK are very WTF about Alfred’s and Savino’s Christmas presents to each other, but they’re trying to mask it because of the Christmas Eve drama over the hickey I’d planned before. Arthur made Savino very upset the day he spoke to his dead parents and grandma, and they are trying to be nicer to him after what happened. Antonio gives an explanation for the telescope that they don’t totally believe is a friendship thing, but they’re more pissed about Alfred because he lied to them about the textbooks back in September (precisely because he was scared saying it was for Savino’s Christmas present would make his feelings way too obvious). They add the Christmas presents to their mental rolodex file of “Alfred and Savino are obviously fucking,” but probably don’t say anything.

After Christmas, Alfred and Savino are in no position to purchase a Vespa, or even a kiddie version of one. If Marcello insists on a real Vespa his brother drives for him, they try to do some quick research to figure out if Savino can even drive a Vespa right now or if he needs a special license and what models are allowed for that. Marcello is mostly about going vroom vroom on a Vespa, so I don’t think he’s looking too closely at the models and would be happy with one that’s not hyper expensive if his brother could actually drive him around on it (because according to whatever state laws I’m basing this on, Savino might need special licenses for some of the higher horsepower models but not the lower ones). Marcello might want one that’s a specific color or similar to one some cousin has, and Romerica are like “okay, sure” even if it costs more because they’re desperate to make this kid happy. At minimum, they’re looking at about a $4000 purchase which is both their Christmas budgets for the entire holiday combined, and they have to dip into their savings accounts that they had access to (I’ll try to research this so it’s not completely stupid plotwise for the fic) but that their parents told them not to touch until they turned 18 because they were specifically for their adult/college life. They don’t drain them, but they each take about $2000 out (possibly after cleaning out their checking accounts completely), and it’s very suspicious.

FrUKSpa are irritated by this immensely. Savino probably mentioned wanting to get a Vespa someday to Antonio before, but he thought Savino would wait until he was 18 or ask for that as his high school graduation gift. If he had to get a Vespa now, he could have tried asking FrUKSpa before this holiday they all just celebrated that involved buying gifts for each other. It might have been something they decided not to get him because it’s too expensive, but it’s weird as fuck that he did this right after getting gifts from everyone he seemed to appreciate. He could have asked for this when he turned 16, instead of/in addition to the car Antonio thought would make it more convenient for Savino to get around. Antonio may not have bought him a Vespa then, but it would have been a lot more normal for Savino to ask back then or before Christmas.

Alfred is the one who they’re most suspicious of, even Antonio. Antonio is able to brush off $500 of textbooks for Christmas (even if FrUK tell him the precise dollar amount and that Alfred lied about it back in September), but he can’t brush off Alfred paying $2000 to help pay for a Vespa that’s not even his. It looks like Alfred keeps getting these ridiculously extravagant gifts for Savino, and they’re all like WTF is going on (FrUK highly suspect, and at this point Antonio is beginning to as well). By contrast, Savino possibly pressured his stepbrother into helping him get a Vespa and made both of them dip into their savings accounts to make this sudden unnecessary purchase, so he needs to be confronted on his spending habits too, but it’s a different issue (and FrUK are especially pissed at him if they think he’s pressuring Alfred financially). Privately, they may decide that FrUK should confront Alfred on his behavior without Antonio since they’re his parents and since Alfred has made it abundantly clear he doesn’t think of Antonio in any kind of family way and will be very disrespectful if Antonio tries to tell him not to be an idiot with money. FrUK really want to confront Savino about the Vespa and possibly manipulating Alfred to get it, but maybe they’re willing to let Antonio talk to his own kid about this and have similar reasons for suspecting Savino would totally disrespect them if they tried to confront him about his spending habits.

#i'm still working through this potential new plot and i haven't written any of this yet #it may change in the future but for now here's what i have #antonio doesn't go in assuming savino was being an asshole about the vespa but fruk might #especially if alfred breaks and is like i helped him buy the vespa because i love him but he doesn't love me at all so pls quit torturing me #he thinks saying savino doesn't love him is protecting him but it makes it worse #because now fruk will think he's using/manipulating alfred #antonio won't because he knows savino isn't like that but he might have a hard time convincing them #possible fic spoilers #romerica stepbros au #hetalia #romerica #frukspa #hws america #hws romano #hws south italy #hw france #hws england #hws spain #aph america #aph romano #aph south italy #aph france #aph england #aph spain #my writing #original post