Adding a Mute to the Mix (2p! Italy x Mute! Reader x 2p! Romano)

Chapter One - The Arrival

        It took nearly two months of consistent begging and nagging, but your parents had finally gotten you to agree to take a well deserved vacation from your life in America and go to Venice, Italy. After all, you were a very hard worker, and always had been given you inability to speak. Yes, you were mute. You had been since birth, and according to your doctors, you always would be. The news saddened you as a child, but you learned to cope with it and didn't let it stop you from getting your dream job. You worked yourself too hard though, which led to your parents wish for you to take an actual vacation, not one of your one or two day excursions to a neighboring city. They wanted you to get out of town and explore new places. So, your current destination was the beautiful town of Venice as you sat on a plane, ready for the flight ahead of you.

        You sat silently in aisle seat, fiddling with the zipper on your hoodie absentmindedly as you kept your gaze down. Your peripheral vision picked up on other people filing in and taking their seats after putting some luggage into the cabinets above their seating rows. You had buckled yourself in long already to prepare for take off. You knew the ropes of airlines, but you never flew before. Yes, you were nervous, but you were more so nervous about your ability to communicate. You knew American Sign Language, or ASL for short, which was very different from the other sign languages from around the world. They definitely had their similarities, but you were afraid that something you signed might mean something offensive in Italy. Hopefully someone would know ASL or be able to figure out what you mean and vice versa with you and their sign language if they know any.

        Either way, you hoped that the trip would be enjoyable. After all, you were able to take off of work for an entire month for it since any vacation days unused from previous years rolled over into the next. The pilot eventually made the announcement for everyone to buckle up, as they were about to take off. You clutched the bottom of your hoodie in you're hands as a sort of reassurance for yourself. You looked at the other passengers. A young girl sat to your left, her mother at the window seat next to her. Across the aisle there was three young adults, all around college age and babbling on and on about how excited they were to be on their trip to study abroad. The three people in the row in front of you seemed to know the students and chatted back and across the aisle to them. A seat in front of the row across from you was empty while the other two were filled in by an elderly couple who held hands. You smiled at them, hoping one day that you would find love like them. You sighed in content at the thought as the flight attendant announced that you were free to move about the cabin.

        After unbuckling, you grabbed your carry on bag and pulled out a sign language book you bought on Italian Sign Language, or LIS. You hoped to learn some of that form of sign language so you could communicate basic things. As you read, you set the book in your lap and practiced some of the signs. The little girl in the seat next to you grew interested in the motions of your hands and watched you. She stuck her tongue out in concentration as she tried to mimic you. You noticed what she was doing and looked at her. She grew bashful after getting caught, but she didn't look away. You noticed that her mother seemed preoccupied with a nap, so you gave her a small wave. She waved back in the same manner and looked down at the book, then back up at you.

        "Can you hear?" she asked innocently as she pointed to her ears.

        You nodded and pointed to your neck.

        "Oh. You can't speak?"

        You nodded once more.

        "Oh! My uncle can't speak either!"

        "Do you know sign language then?" you signed to her slowly.

        "Yes! He's been teaching me, so now we don't have to write back and forth!" she signed back.