Clandestine - chapter two
Title: Clandestine
Rating: Nc-17 (or M)
Pairings: Germany/Italy (Ludwig/Feliciano), HRE/Italy, and ~in a twisted sort of way~ Germany-is-HRE/Italy; additional pairings
Previous chapter(s): chapter one
Warnings: “angst” always deserves its own warning, because while this is a ‘romance’, I realize most of you would rather skip over the heartache. That being said, I’d like to include ‘sex’, a certain degree of ‘violence’, and perhaps a bit of ‘language’ to the list, as well as the possibility of ‘dub-con’ if this turns out the way I have everything planned...
Fun Facts: ...can be found at the bottom of the page. If you’re not a history buff, don’t sweat it-I’ll explain most of the information I use at the end of every chapter.
Translations: ...can also be found at the bottom of the page.
Con-crit: I’m not a published author, and I realize that some of my commas might’ve migrated between sentences, so I’ll accept any advice you can give me. Seriously-have at it, darlings.
Disclaimer: Hetalia belongs entirely to Hidekaz Himaruya.
Summary: The grandson of Rom and the lover of Germany, Italy doesn't know what to do when faced with the absolute power of the Holy Roman Empire-an old friend and a long lost love, the first man to ever hold his heart. Try as he might, he can't prevent the past from unraveling at his fingertips.
~*~///\\\~*~///\\\~*~///\\\~*~
Though years of war had done well to harden him, dissolution had smoothed out the last few lines of grief and quenched his ever-present thirst for more. He was Prussia- Allmächtiger Preußen-lord of the old world and attendant of the new. He had persevered through the destruction of his once proud kingdom, and would endure the heady thrum of the atomic revolution, if for nothing else than the sole sake of knowing and of being known, now and forever, by the last of his magnificent people...
And it was through Germany, today, that he could feel the whole world changing...
Lying in bed on a bright, Sunday morning, he dreamt of France and Napoleon...and a corpse. The Holy Roman Empire, still warm and soft, though void of soul, lying amidst the pile of bodies. That day, Prussia had thought of his own people, and how they desired a new Empire. ‘A German Empire,’ he thought-with the exclusion of Austria, perhaps, so that he could nurture this one without Roderich’s influence.
So he knelt before that tiny corpse and pricked his finger on the tip of his dagger before smearing the blood around those precious lips. And then Prussia leaned down to breathe a little life into him, and held him, and watched as the first glimmer of life flickered behind the veil of his dull and glossy eyes...
Despite the destruction of his kingdom in favour of letting his brother thrive, Gilbert never once regretted the day he founded Germany. Ludwig had somehow always been more than just a dream. He was simply a grand idea waiting for the day of its fruition.
Today, however, Gilbert felt as though a piece of his brother had been severed from the whole, and that this fragment had become sentient immediately after the amputation. The sensation was so peculiar, Prussia really couldn’t describe it beyond the impression of an abortion, self-induced; a miscarriage instrumented by the will of none other than the infant itself. And now he could feel the entity growing, spreading its influence far beyond the boundaries of its fellow nations, like a conqueror come to rape and pillage the land...
Opening his eyes to the first rays of light, the sun peaking coyly at him over the bottom of the windowpane, Gilbert reached over to the bedside table to collect his cell phone, and dialled up an old friend.
Austria, it appeared, had sensed something too.
~*~///\\\~*~///\\\~*~///\\\~*~
Despite how he felt that morning, Ludwig tore himself from the warmth of their bed (-the tangle of sheets; Feli; the knowledge that he could easily lie there for the rest of the day and wouldn’t hear a word of complaint from his little Italian-) and trudged into the shower to cleanse himself of a most unfamiliar chill. He washed away the thin sheen of sweat and dried himself in haste, and then carried his aching body downstairs to collect his things from the living room before heading off to work.
He would be lying if he said he hadn’t practically bolted out the door, hoping, praying, that Feliciano was still fast asleep in bed.
And all because he felt a little...ill.
As easy as it was to share his weakness with Feliciano, he hated to appear anything less than the embodiment of virility in the eyes of his lover. It was for this reason alone that he left a letter on the kitchen table detailing the fact that he expected he would be busy for a while, but that Feliciano was more than welcome to spend the week with him after tomorrow-just not today, please (no, certainly not today; he felt now as though there was something was rolling around in the pit of his stomach), because he couldn’t even tell if he’d get done in time to sleep tonight. He’d ask his boss for a little time off and then drive together out into the countryside somewhere, maybe Florence even, to hide away and indulge themselves however they saw fit...
Feliciano would understand, of course. Despite his penchant for long afternoon naps, the Italian had once ignored him for days on end in an attempt to do away with all his paperwork. Generally speaking, ‘paperwork’ was never ending, but Feliciano had certainly dented the pile his boss had assigned to him in order to spend the weekend off in Berlin.
They had worked out, long ago, how to weave one another lives around each other’s.
It made him wonder why, then, he simply couldn’t tell Feliciano he was sick.
‘Because I don’t want him to see me like this,’ he mused wistfully to himself, ‘and because I don’t want to have to tell him to keep his distance if he doesn’t want to catch what I have,’ which would really be a shame, because he was finding it increasingly difficult to get out of bed in the morning after his nights spent sleeping with Feli. It was too easy to kiss him awake and massage his slender limbs, wrap those gloriously long legs around his waist and make love, over and over again, until Feliciano’s every thought was occupied with nothing else but him...
He often wondered if he had become too possessive of his lover.
Even so, he didn’t think he could afford to let Feliciano see him like this.
“You do not look well today, Herr Deutschland.”
Startled, he looked up to see Angela Merkel, his Chancellor, standing before his desk. Realizing then that he was slouching, he corrected his posture and gave her a polite nod.
“It is nothing, meine Bundeskanzlerin. A flu, perhaps. That is all.”
“Over what?” she asked. The files in her arms were his work for today, but she kept them pressed securely against her chest even as he held out his hand to her expectantly. “Nothing is wrong with the people, at least to my knowledge.”
“It is a personal matter,” he murmured, and that was the best answer he could offer her. Occasionally, a nation could separate a portion of their personal life from that of their people. After all, they were not immune to the consequences of the decisions they made outside the popular opinion of their citizens... “I assure you, there is nothing to worry about.”
“Likewise, Ludwig. Go home; get well. What I have for you today can certainly wait until you’re better.”
He wanted to argue with her, but she was fierce in the way most women are when given the opportunity to bloom. She had won her position as the first female Chancellor in Germany for a reason, and Germany didn’t often want to go toe to toe with her.
Even if they did occasionally argue over the Life Partnership Act...
“...Call me if anything comes up,” he said, relenting. Naturally, he would know if anything was wrong before she did, but even he knew politicians had a way of keeping secrets. He could hardly read another person’s mind. “Auf Wiedersehen...”
She smiled a little and turned away-before turning back to grab the files from his ‘In’ pile. “These can also wait,” she said before he could open his mouth, and then she was really gone, leaving Ludwig, baffled, where he sat at his desk.
Stunned, he listened as her shoes click-click-clicked against the floor tiles as she disappeared down the hall. Then he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples gingerly, willing away the migraine growing there...
Try as he might, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was looming in the distance.
It felt eerily as though another war was coming.
~*~///\\\~*~///\\\~*~///\\\~*~
“This is it, huh?”
Despite his perchance for shoving democracy down everyone’s throat, Feliciano had to admit that Alfred F. Jones had an honest face. Even though Alfred preferred to make his own cars (Lord knows-the American’s had their gas guzzlers), Feliciano could see the way he appreciated Italy’s newest convertible, how sleek it was, and classy, and curved in all the right places...
Much like his women, Feliciano thought merrily to himself.
Alfred whistled as he hopped into the driver’s seat, holding his hand out expectantly for the keys. Italy tossed them to him and returned the man’s smile as he climbed in next to him, watching as Alfred gripped the steering wheel admiringly before finally deciding to gun the ignition.
The engine practically purred. Feliciano had always appreciated that about automobiles, the way you could feel them hum, almost as though they were an extension of yourself. Such heavy beasts... They made him feel powerful somehow, not in the way one man could lord over another, but through the way you could look at the open road ahead of you and know that you were utterly free..
He felt that way Ludwig too most of the time-not as an extension of himself, but rather as his other half. Together, they completed the circle that was Feliciano’s earth...
He glanced at Alfred out of the corner of his eye. The man was grinning like a kid in a candy shop.
Feliciano really didn’t mind these impromptu visits, especially when it gave him the opportunity to ditch the mountain of paperwork on his desk.
“Hey, Vargas-you mind if I take us for a spin?”
“Per favore. Be my guest.”
“Anywhere in particular?”
Feliciano slouched down for a moment, thinking... Then he gestured to the road with a wave of his hand and smiled a little smile. “I’ll direct you along the way.”
“Will do, Captain.”
They tore out of Rome like nobody’s business (much like everyone else on the road, Feliciano mused), cruising through the Tuscan countryside without so much as a care in the world. Feli loved the feeling of the wind in his hair; the sunlight warm against his face. He especially enjoyed the almost impressionistic quality of the passing scenery. He’d have to paint it again someday. Maybe tonight even, if it was true that Ludwig was busy. Perhaps then, he’d give the finished project to his lover-
-before Francis could get his hands on it, of course. He had a feeling the man would never return the ones he’d taken so many years ago...
“Turn here,” he said maybe fifteen minutes into the ride when he remembered where he wanted to go. Alfred followed the direction without question. The dirt road he had chosen took them off the highway and out through a pasture, one that was as old as time to Feliciano. Holy Rome had visited him there often when he was young and had played with him, rolling around in the flowers and the grass, until they were too tired to move anymore.
Feliciano could recall collapsing next the boy under a tree and simply sitting there, listening, as Roma recounted his many tales of glory on the battlefield...
‘I shouldn’t think about him.’ And really-he shouldn’t. Since he had become intimate with Ludwig, he had promised himself he would stop wondering ‘what if?’ What if he wasn’t dead? What if he came home? What if he was still in love with Italy...?
Feliciano couldn’t explain why he was thinking of him. Perhaps it was because of what Ludwig had asked him last night. He was just being nostalgic. The feeling would pass...
Speaking of which, he wished he had woken up early enough to say goodbye. He hated it now when he slept through the morning until noon, at least on the nights that Ludwig decided to visit.
“-here, okay?”
“Hm?” How rude of him-he hadn’t been paying attention. “I’m sorry?”
“I thought maybe we’d pull over for a bit. You look tired.”
“Just a little,” he murmured. And then he felt it, “-Here. Here is perfect.”
Alfred gave him an odd look but didn’t say a word as he slowed to a halt along the shoulder of the road. Cows were grazing on the other side of a low, wooden fence. The thicket of trees behind them had grown quite a bit since the last time Feli had been there.
“Come-let’s get a little a shade!”
“Aren’t you afraid someone’s going to steal your car?”
“Out here?” Feliciano smiled. “No. Now come, per favore. This is a wonderful place to rest.”
“...With the cows?”
“Yes. With the cows.”
Alfred shrugged but decided it was for the best that he follow him as the smaller nation bolted out of the car. Hoping over the fence after Italy, he accompanied Feliciano into the shade, where they merely sat together quietly and passed the time watching the cows go on grazing.
Feliciano appreciated the simpler things in life.
“...Alright,” Alfred sighed, “I guess this is peaceful. A little. Mattie likes to go camping, but I’m a Vegas man myself. Drives him nuts...”
“Sì, but you haven’t lived until you’ve celebrated in Europe. Ask Big Brother. I’m sure you’d agree.”
“Okay, no argument there,” he laughed. “Francis knows how to get people drunk, I’ll give you that much.”
Feliciano smiled gently. Then he propped his knees up and crossed his arms over them so that he could use them as a support for his chin. “Might I ask, then...what brings you here?”
“The car, really-Francis let it slip you were putting something together and I needed a break. And I was in France of all places, because Mattie wanted me to tag along on his annual visit. The molestation is sometimes too much to handle when you’re the only one within groping distance, even for Mattie.”
“I see... So, I guess that makes you a ‘hero’, hm?”
Alfred’s eyes practically sparkled-the usual reaction to such statements, Feliciano noted. “Damn straight. A friend in need is a friend indeed, right? Heck, I’d even swoop in to save you if you didn’t already have Ludwig waiting in the wings.”
Which was certainly true.
And Feliciano could empathize with him concerning Francis. Now that he knew, more or less, all the things two people could do with one another in the bedroom, he had a better idea of when Francis was making a pass at him...
Fortunately, Ludwig could also tell when Francis was making a pass at him, which was really for the best. His lover was so much better at explaining that they were in a monogamous relationship; Feliciano honestly had no idea how to be stern or intimidating.
“-and you’re probably daydreaming about him too. Eerie, huh?”
Blinking, he stared at Alfred until he was able to register what he had said. “Mi dispiace-I’m sorry, what?”
“Germany ...You zoned out. Look.”
Lifting his head from his knees, he gazed out across the field at a figure in the distance and squinted his eyes against the sun. It was later now than what he’d expected. They probably should’ve started back a while ago.
Strolling through the long grass at a leisurely pace, eyes focused entirely on Feliciano, Ludwig was making his way gradually over to their little thicket of trees. For a moment, Feli was worried. His lover looked solemn-confused, almost, in the way that he was appraising Feliciano. But then those narrowed eyes softened and the slightest of smiles graced his face.
This was a look Feliciano was familiar with.
And so, when he sprung to his feet and ran over to greet his lover, he was not the least bit surprised when Ludwig relaxed into his embrace and bent his head down to accept Italy’s kiss...
...Somehow, it felt as though an eternity had finally come to an end.
A/N: I believe that HRE would be a fiercely possessive man/boy, but I’ll leave that idea to your imagination until I post chapter three. -And I apologize for the late update. My internet connection has been less than desirable these last few weeks...
Translations: (Keeping in mind that I speak neither German nor Italian...)
‘Allmächtiger Preußen’ - Almighty Prussia.
‘Herr Deutschland’ - “Mr” Germany
‘Auf Wiedersehen’ - Goodbye
‘Meine Bundeskanzlerin’ - My Chancellor (fem.)
‘Per favore’ - Please
‘Mi dispiace’ - My apologies/Sorry
Fun Facts:
1) Otto von Bismarck (AKA: "The Iron Chancellor") was the Prime Minister of Prussia from 1862-1890, and he wanted the Hohenzollern hegemony (--a royal family that ruled in Prussia from 1701 to about 1918--) to spread throughout the German States I had mentioned earlier in the last chapter. He could accomplish this by unifying said German states, but then he could only really get anything done if he booted Austria (---Prussia's darling nemesis--) from the picture. There's a long and fascinating tale that follows all this (after all, this is the birth of Germany we're talking about here), but that's a story for another time I suppose. All in all, I think it's important to mention that although Austria and Prussia weren't ever too amused with one another, Austria-Hungary has been a long time ally of Germany.
2) ‘Meine Bundeskanzlerin’ (‘My Chancellor’; keeping in mind that Bundeskanzlerin is the female denotation of the noun Bundeskanzler) - Angela Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany, and she took office on the 22nd of November, 2005. I’m not going to say much else about her other than her party is the CDU/CSU and that they claim to be ‘centrist’ on abortion and gay rights (I’m ‘?????’ as to what that means). I believe she’s more or less implied that she plans to undo the gay marriage/civil union legislation already in Germany, but I don’t think she’ll really dare to touch what they’ve got going on for themselves right now (which, last I heard, is a Life Partnership Act: couples can take each other’s names; qualify for state pensions if widowed; divorce and demand a settlement; etc... I don’t know all the details though, sorry)
3) Gay Rights in Germany - see the above point.
4) To be fair, I have actually no idea where the Holy Roman Empire and Italy would’ve hung out. Seeing with how enamoured Roma was with Feli though, I imagine he would pop in to see the little fellow whenever he could (-and didn’t he actually do that in one of the episodes? Sorry, spoiler-alert! I’m pretty sure he made a cameo in the story about the gondolas...).
5) If anyone else here is weirded out by the fact that some of the European nations are catching on to a change in power, so am I... I imagine it would be pretty freaky if I helped to oust an old ruler, thought he was pretty much dead, and then found him standing on my doorstep x-number of years later. Can anyone else say hell on earth?
Rating: Nc-17 (or M)
Pairings: Germany/Italy (Ludwig/Feliciano), HRE/Italy, and ~in a twisted sort of way~ Germany-is-HRE/Italy; additional pairings
Previous chapter(s): chapter one
Warnings: “angst” always deserves its own warning, because while this is a ‘romance’, I realize most of you would rather skip over the heartache. That being said, I’d like to include ‘sex’, a certain degree of ‘violence’, and perhaps a bit of ‘language’ to the list, as well as the possibility of ‘dub-con’ if this turns out the way I have everything planned...
Fun Facts: ...can be found at the bottom of the page. If you’re not a history buff, don’t sweat it-I’ll explain most of the information I use at the end of every chapter.
Translations: ...can also be found at the bottom of the page.
Con-crit: I’m not a published author, and I realize that some of my commas might’ve migrated between sentences, so I’ll accept any advice you can give me. Seriously-have at it, darlings.
Disclaimer: Hetalia belongs entirely to Hidekaz Himaruya.
Summary: The grandson of Rom and the lover of Germany, Italy doesn't know what to do when faced with the absolute power of the Holy Roman Empire-an old friend and a long lost love, the first man to ever hold his heart. Try as he might, he can't prevent the past from unraveling at his fingertips.
~*~///\\\~*~///\\\~*~///\\\~*~
Though years of war had done well to harden him, dissolution had smoothed out the last few lines of grief and quenched his ever-present thirst for more. He was Prussia- Allmächtiger Preußen-lord of the old world and attendant of the new. He had persevered through the destruction of his once proud kingdom, and would endure the heady thrum of the atomic revolution, if for nothing else than the sole sake of knowing and of being known, now and forever, by the last of his magnificent people...
And it was through Germany, today, that he could feel the whole world changing...
Lying in bed on a bright, Sunday morning, he dreamt of France and Napoleon...and a corpse. The Holy Roman Empire, still warm and soft, though void of soul, lying amidst the pile of bodies. That day, Prussia had thought of his own people, and how they desired a new Empire. ‘A German Empire,’ he thought-with the exclusion of Austria, perhaps, so that he could nurture this one without Roderich’s influence.
So he knelt before that tiny corpse and pricked his finger on the tip of his dagger before smearing the blood around those precious lips. And then Prussia leaned down to breathe a little life into him, and held him, and watched as the first glimmer of life flickered behind the veil of his dull and glossy eyes...
Despite the destruction of his kingdom in favour of letting his brother thrive, Gilbert never once regretted the day he founded Germany. Ludwig had somehow always been more than just a dream. He was simply a grand idea waiting for the day of its fruition.
Today, however, Gilbert felt as though a piece of his brother had been severed from the whole, and that this fragment had become sentient immediately after the amputation. The sensation was so peculiar, Prussia really couldn’t describe it beyond the impression of an abortion, self-induced; a miscarriage instrumented by the will of none other than the infant itself. And now he could feel the entity growing, spreading its influence far beyond the boundaries of its fellow nations, like a conqueror come to rape and pillage the land...
Opening his eyes to the first rays of light, the sun peaking coyly at him over the bottom of the windowpane, Gilbert reached over to the bedside table to collect his cell phone, and dialled up an old friend.
Austria, it appeared, had sensed something too.
~*~///\\\~*~///\\\~*~///\\\~*~
Despite how he felt that morning, Ludwig tore himself from the warmth of their bed (-the tangle of sheets; Feli; the knowledge that he could easily lie there for the rest of the day and wouldn’t hear a word of complaint from his little Italian-) and trudged into the shower to cleanse himself of a most unfamiliar chill. He washed away the thin sheen of sweat and dried himself in haste, and then carried his aching body downstairs to collect his things from the living room before heading off to work.
He would be lying if he said he hadn’t practically bolted out the door, hoping, praying, that Feliciano was still fast asleep in bed.
And all because he felt a little...ill.
As easy as it was to share his weakness with Feliciano, he hated to appear anything less than the embodiment of virility in the eyes of his lover. It was for this reason alone that he left a letter on the kitchen table detailing the fact that he expected he would be busy for a while, but that Feliciano was more than welcome to spend the week with him after tomorrow-just not today, please (no, certainly not today; he felt now as though there was something was rolling around in the pit of his stomach), because he couldn’t even tell if he’d get done in time to sleep tonight. He’d ask his boss for a little time off and then drive together out into the countryside somewhere, maybe Florence even, to hide away and indulge themselves however they saw fit...
Feliciano would understand, of course. Despite his penchant for long afternoon naps, the Italian had once ignored him for days on end in an attempt to do away with all his paperwork. Generally speaking, ‘paperwork’ was never ending, but Feliciano had certainly dented the pile his boss had assigned to him in order to spend the weekend off in Berlin.
They had worked out, long ago, how to weave one another lives around each other’s.
It made him wonder why, then, he simply couldn’t tell Feliciano he was sick.
‘Because I don’t want him to see me like this,’ he mused wistfully to himself, ‘and because I don’t want to have to tell him to keep his distance if he doesn’t want to catch what I have,’ which would really be a shame, because he was finding it increasingly difficult to get out of bed in the morning after his nights spent sleeping with Feli. It was too easy to kiss him awake and massage his slender limbs, wrap those gloriously long legs around his waist and make love, over and over again, until Feliciano’s every thought was occupied with nothing else but him...
He often wondered if he had become too possessive of his lover.
Even so, he didn’t think he could afford to let Feliciano see him like this.
“You do not look well today, Herr Deutschland.”
Startled, he looked up to see Angela Merkel, his Chancellor, standing before his desk. Realizing then that he was slouching, he corrected his posture and gave her a polite nod.
“It is nothing, meine Bundeskanzlerin. A flu, perhaps. That is all.”
“Over what?” she asked. The files in her arms were his work for today, but she kept them pressed securely against her chest even as he held out his hand to her expectantly. “Nothing is wrong with the people, at least to my knowledge.”
“It is a personal matter,” he murmured, and that was the best answer he could offer her. Occasionally, a nation could separate a portion of their personal life from that of their people. After all, they were not immune to the consequences of the decisions they made outside the popular opinion of their citizens... “I assure you, there is nothing to worry about.”
“Likewise, Ludwig. Go home; get well. What I have for you today can certainly wait until you’re better.”
He wanted to argue with her, but she was fierce in the way most women are when given the opportunity to bloom. She had won her position as the first female Chancellor in Germany for a reason, and Germany didn’t often want to go toe to toe with her.
Even if they did occasionally argue over the Life Partnership Act...
“...Call me if anything comes up,” he said, relenting. Naturally, he would know if anything was wrong before she did, but even he knew politicians had a way of keeping secrets. He could hardly read another person’s mind. “Auf Wiedersehen...”
She smiled a little and turned away-before turning back to grab the files from his ‘In’ pile. “These can also wait,” she said before he could open his mouth, and then she was really gone, leaving Ludwig, baffled, where he sat at his desk.
Stunned, he listened as her shoes click-click-clicked against the floor tiles as she disappeared down the hall. Then he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples gingerly, willing away the migraine growing there...
Try as he might, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was looming in the distance.
It felt eerily as though another war was coming.
~*~///\\\~*~///\\\~*~///\\\~*~
“This is it, huh?”
Despite his perchance for shoving democracy down everyone’s throat, Feliciano had to admit that Alfred F. Jones had an honest face. Even though Alfred preferred to make his own cars (Lord knows-the American’s had their gas guzzlers), Feliciano could see the way he appreciated Italy’s newest convertible, how sleek it was, and classy, and curved in all the right places...
Much like his women, Feliciano thought merrily to himself.
Alfred whistled as he hopped into the driver’s seat, holding his hand out expectantly for the keys. Italy tossed them to him and returned the man’s smile as he climbed in next to him, watching as Alfred gripped the steering wheel admiringly before finally deciding to gun the ignition.
The engine practically purred. Feliciano had always appreciated that about automobiles, the way you could feel them hum, almost as though they were an extension of yourself. Such heavy beasts... They made him feel powerful somehow, not in the way one man could lord over another, but through the way you could look at the open road ahead of you and know that you were utterly free..
He felt that way Ludwig too most of the time-not as an extension of himself, but rather as his other half. Together, they completed the circle that was Feliciano’s earth...
He glanced at Alfred out of the corner of his eye. The man was grinning like a kid in a candy shop.
Feliciano really didn’t mind these impromptu visits, especially when it gave him the opportunity to ditch the mountain of paperwork on his desk.
“Hey, Vargas-you mind if I take us for a spin?”
“Per favore. Be my guest.”
“Anywhere in particular?”
Feliciano slouched down for a moment, thinking... Then he gestured to the road with a wave of his hand and smiled a little smile. “I’ll direct you along the way.”
“Will do, Captain.”
They tore out of Rome like nobody’s business (much like everyone else on the road, Feliciano mused), cruising through the Tuscan countryside without so much as a care in the world. Feli loved the feeling of the wind in his hair; the sunlight warm against his face. He especially enjoyed the almost impressionistic quality of the passing scenery. He’d have to paint it again someday. Maybe tonight even, if it was true that Ludwig was busy. Perhaps then, he’d give the finished project to his lover-
-before Francis could get his hands on it, of course. He had a feeling the man would never return the ones he’d taken so many years ago...
“Turn here,” he said maybe fifteen minutes into the ride when he remembered where he wanted to go. Alfred followed the direction without question. The dirt road he had chosen took them off the highway and out through a pasture, one that was as old as time to Feliciano. Holy Rome had visited him there often when he was young and had played with him, rolling around in the flowers and the grass, until they were too tired to move anymore.
Feliciano could recall collapsing next the boy under a tree and simply sitting there, listening, as Roma recounted his many tales of glory on the battlefield...
‘I shouldn’t think about him.’ And really-he shouldn’t. Since he had become intimate with Ludwig, he had promised himself he would stop wondering ‘what if?’ What if he wasn’t dead? What if he came home? What if he was still in love with Italy...?
Feliciano couldn’t explain why he was thinking of him. Perhaps it was because of what Ludwig had asked him last night. He was just being nostalgic. The feeling would pass...
Speaking of which, he wished he had woken up early enough to say goodbye. He hated it now when he slept through the morning until noon, at least on the nights that Ludwig decided to visit.
“-here, okay?”
“Hm?” How rude of him-he hadn’t been paying attention. “I’m sorry?”
“I thought maybe we’d pull over for a bit. You look tired.”
“Just a little,” he murmured. And then he felt it, “-Here. Here is perfect.”
Alfred gave him an odd look but didn’t say a word as he slowed to a halt along the shoulder of the road. Cows were grazing on the other side of a low, wooden fence. The thicket of trees behind them had grown quite a bit since the last time Feli had been there.
“Come-let’s get a little a shade!”
“Aren’t you afraid someone’s going to steal your car?”
“Out here?” Feliciano smiled. “No. Now come, per favore. This is a wonderful place to rest.”
“...With the cows?”
“Yes. With the cows.”
Alfred shrugged but decided it was for the best that he follow him as the smaller nation bolted out of the car. Hoping over the fence after Italy, he accompanied Feliciano into the shade, where they merely sat together quietly and passed the time watching the cows go on grazing.
Feliciano appreciated the simpler things in life.
“...Alright,” Alfred sighed, “I guess this is peaceful. A little. Mattie likes to go camping, but I’m a Vegas man myself. Drives him nuts...”
“Sì, but you haven’t lived until you’ve celebrated in Europe. Ask Big Brother. I’m sure you’d agree.”
“Okay, no argument there,” he laughed. “Francis knows how to get people drunk, I’ll give you that much.”
Feliciano smiled gently. Then he propped his knees up and crossed his arms over them so that he could use them as a support for his chin. “Might I ask, then...what brings you here?”
“The car, really-Francis let it slip you were putting something together and I needed a break. And I was in France of all places, because Mattie wanted me to tag along on his annual visit. The molestation is sometimes too much to handle when you’re the only one within groping distance, even for Mattie.”
“I see... So, I guess that makes you a ‘hero’, hm?”
Alfred’s eyes practically sparkled-the usual reaction to such statements, Feliciano noted. “Damn straight. A friend in need is a friend indeed, right? Heck, I’d even swoop in to save you if you didn’t already have Ludwig waiting in the wings.”
Which was certainly true.
And Feliciano could empathize with him concerning Francis. Now that he knew, more or less, all the things two people could do with one another in the bedroom, he had a better idea of when Francis was making a pass at him...
Fortunately, Ludwig could also tell when Francis was making a pass at him, which was really for the best. His lover was so much better at explaining that they were in a monogamous relationship; Feliciano honestly had no idea how to be stern or intimidating.
“-and you’re probably daydreaming about him too. Eerie, huh?”
Blinking, he stared at Alfred until he was able to register what he had said. “Mi dispiace-I’m sorry, what?”
“Germany ...You zoned out. Look.”
Lifting his head from his knees, he gazed out across the field at a figure in the distance and squinted his eyes against the sun. It was later now than what he’d expected. They probably should’ve started back a while ago.
Strolling through the long grass at a leisurely pace, eyes focused entirely on Feliciano, Ludwig was making his way gradually over to their little thicket of trees. For a moment, Feli was worried. His lover looked solemn-confused, almost, in the way that he was appraising Feliciano. But then those narrowed eyes softened and the slightest of smiles graced his face.
This was a look Feliciano was familiar with.
And so, when he sprung to his feet and ran over to greet his lover, he was not the least bit surprised when Ludwig relaxed into his embrace and bent his head down to accept Italy’s kiss...
...Somehow, it felt as though an eternity had finally come to an end.
A/N: I believe that HRE would be a fiercely possessive man/boy, but I’ll leave that idea to your imagination until I post chapter three. -And I apologize for the late update. My internet connection has been less than desirable these last few weeks...
Translations: (Keeping in mind that I speak neither German nor Italian...)
‘Allmächtiger Preußen’ - Almighty Prussia.
‘Herr Deutschland’ - “Mr” Germany
‘Auf Wiedersehen’ - Goodbye
‘Meine Bundeskanzlerin’ - My Chancellor (fem.)
‘Per favore’ - Please
‘Mi dispiace’ - My apologies/Sorry
Fun Facts:
1) Otto von Bismarck (AKA: "The Iron Chancellor") was the Prime Minister of Prussia from 1862-1890, and he wanted the Hohenzollern hegemony (--a royal family that ruled in Prussia from 1701 to about 1918--) to spread throughout the German States I had mentioned earlier in the last chapter. He could accomplish this by unifying said German states, but then he could only really get anything done if he booted Austria (---Prussia's darling nemesis--) from the picture. There's a long and fascinating tale that follows all this (after all, this is the birth of Germany we're talking about here), but that's a story for another time I suppose. All in all, I think it's important to mention that although Austria and Prussia weren't ever too amused with one another, Austria-Hungary has been a long time ally of Germany.
2) ‘Meine Bundeskanzlerin’ (‘My Chancellor’; keeping in mind that Bundeskanzlerin is the female denotation of the noun Bundeskanzler) - Angela Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany, and she took office on the 22nd of November, 2005. I’m not going to say much else about her other than her party is the CDU/CSU and that they claim to be ‘centrist’ on abortion and gay rights (I’m ‘?????’ as to what that means). I believe she’s more or less implied that she plans to undo the gay marriage/civil union legislation already in Germany, but I don’t think she’ll really dare to touch what they’ve got going on for themselves right now (which, last I heard, is a Life Partnership Act: couples can take each other’s names; qualify for state pensions if widowed; divorce and demand a settlement; etc... I don’t know all the details though, sorry)
3) Gay Rights in Germany - see the above point.
4) To be fair, I have actually no idea where the Holy Roman Empire and Italy would’ve hung out. Seeing with how enamoured Roma was with Feli though, I imagine he would pop in to see the little fellow whenever he could (-and didn’t he actually do that in one of the episodes? Sorry, spoiler-alert! I’m pretty sure he made a cameo in the story about the gondolas...).
5) If anyone else here is weirded out by the fact that some of the European nations are catching on to a change in power, so am I... I imagine it would be pretty freaky if I helped to oust an old ruler, thought he was pretty much dead, and then found him standing on my doorstep x-number of years later. Can anyone else say hell on earth?