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Antonio froze.

He couldn’t help it. He caught the first glimpse of the well-used blue wool and just stopped breathing.

He’s been avoiding Austria, both the country and the representation, like the plague ever since he came back from 1919. Could you really blame him? He told the guy they were back together in the future. And to make it worse, either Roderich remembered everything and was not particularly thrilled with the idea, or else he would have at least made an attempt to talk to him about it, or he’d forgotten it all completely. Antonio didn’t know what would be worse. Didn’t help the fact that, once again, he just couldn’t stop thinking about him.  

However, with october came the chilly weather and the all-day-long EU meetings. And with those meetings came Roderich, showing up ten minutes late with that damn scarf wrapped around his neck.

Antonio was pretty sure that, along with the gawking, he made some sort of startled animal noise, because several heads turned to look at him, including Austria himself.

“I- nothing I just remembered I left the windows open at home.” He joked, leaning towards France, as if talking to him. Which, now that he thought about it, could have actually been the case.

The boring morning, spent listening to the speakers try to convince their peers that they were trying their hardest at doing stuff they didn’t really give a shit about, calmed him down. Except for one instance when he glanced up in Austria’s direction and found him already staring at him. That time Antonio was the first one to look away, noticeably more flustered.

By the time the noon break rolled around Antonio was mentally exhausted. Excusing himself with a phony smile he walked away, strolling through the adjacent park until he found a small square. He sat on a bench and closed his eyes, tilting his head up. The blissful silence was interrupted from time to time by the voices of kids playing football in the nearby school patio and nondescript pop music coming from someone’s phone.

It was way chillier here than at his place, and even if he had packed a jacket, maybe a pair of gloves and a hat should have been in order.

Something hot made contact with his temple. Startled, Spain jumped away, blinking repeatedly only to find a hesitantly smiling Austria holding two cups of coffee in his hands, one of which he was extending towards Antonio.

“Thanks…” He took it, grateful for the warmth of it in his frozen hands. Still, he peeked distrustfully at Roderich as he sat down by his side. They remained in silence for a couple of minutes, watching the monotone fountain in the middle of the square, until Roderich sighed, leaning back against the backrest.

“Can I ask you something?”

“I will have the eolics report done by friday.” Spain answered, hands twitching around his cup.

“It’s not about work.”

Well, too much to hope for, apparently.

“Go on then.” He waited for another minute of silence, finally daring to turn around to face Austria, who was looking at him inquisitively.

“Why did you lie?”

“What?”

“Back then,” He brought a hand up to touch his scarf. “why did you tell me that we were together in the future if, going by the reaction you had today to my scarf, you already made that trip to the past?” He pursed his lips, looking Antonio straight in the eyes. “And unless I’ve missed something really subtle, we are not, indeed, in a relationship. So it had been all a lie. Why?”

Antonio had to turn away, unable to stand the accusation in the other’s eyes.

“I don’t know.” He said honestly. “You made an assumption and I just… went with it, I guess.”

“You told me we saw each other-”

“For work!”

“You called me beautiful.”

Okay, Spain didn’t have an excuse for that. He drank all of his coffee in one go, scalding his tongue in the process, and turned away to throw the cup in the nearest trash can. But Roderich was still looking at him expectantly, awaiting for an answer.

“I call a lot of people beautiful.That’s just how I roll.” Antonio grumbled. “I only wanted to give you hope for a less troubled and miserable future, explain that things would get better for you, and that’s just how it came out.”

“You described to me a life together. You made it up from pieces of our present that could fit perfectly-”

“You are attributing to my actions a thought process that really wasn’t there.”

“I saw your face, Toni.”

“You were sick and not wearing your glasses.”

“Why are you grasping at strands?”

“What do you want me to say?!” Antonio shouted out at least, standing briskly from the bench and towering over Austria. “That I am sorry? Well I’m sorry then! There, happy?”

His outburst seemingly didn’t affect Roderich at all, who remained perfectly zen, taking a sip of his coffee and then tilting his head a bit. “Do you even know what are you apologising for?”

“I- I…”

Throwing his hands up up the air Antonio grunted in frustration, flopping down on the bench again and crossing his arms over his chest. “What do you want me to apologise for?”

Roderich hummed, taking another sip, as if he had all the time in the world. “I used to think-” He began softly “that losing you was the most painful thing that would ever happen to me. Turns out? - I was wrong.”

Antonio wanted to say something to that, but he didn’t really know what, so he let him talk.

“But then, you showed up during one of the worst, most desperate moments in my life and made it slightly better. You convinced me that no matter what, there was a future waiting for me without misery and pain, and that the only thing I had to do was to have patience and endure. That knowledge has been in the back of my mind since then, supporting me through everything that came after you left and until this day. And for the most part you were right. I can’t complain about the life I have now, but…”

He trailed off, inspiring deeply, as if gathering the courage to take a leap from a skyscraper “But I’ve been waiting. For decades, I’ve been waiting for the one thing missing from that scenario. I’ve been waiting for you to make a move.”

Antonio’s breathing sped up in tune with his heartbeat. He couldn’t take his eyes off Roderich, the impassible mask of his face as deceptively calm as a stone God. However, they were sitting close enough that Antonio could feel the fine tremble of the cup held in his hands.

“I don’t want your apology. There’s nothing to apologise for. I was asking because I want to know if you lied only for my convenience or if there was some wishful thinking in there too. Because I don’t want it to be a lie.”

“Rode… did you just?” Antonio had trouble believing his own ears. All he could do was keep staring at Roderich in shock, until the man broke their eye contact, looking down at his own lap, the masc finally retreating to show how nervous he was.

“I know now there’s no use in waiting anymore. So this is me, making the first move myself.”

“But- how? You don’t even look at me!”

“I do, actually. You just rarely catch me.” Austria directed a shy smile up at him, that died at Spain’s lack of response. “Alright, I guess I’m just going to give you some time to think and-”

“No, wait. Just hold on for a second, don’t move.” Antonio clasped his hand over Austria’s knee, preventing him from standing up, but his eyes were focused on the ground. He needed just a moment to digest what had just happened. “Did you just ask me out?”

“I guess I did.”

“Holy shit, that’s terrifying.” The second the words left his mouth he had a mini-freak out, worrying that he’d fucked up. However, there must have been something revealing in his voice, because Austria laughed softly, suddenly looking less on edge.

“Yes, it is, isn’t it?”

Antonio laughed too then. A little bit hysterically, but mostly from a happiness that had yet to sink in, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Roderich sat up straighter, unwinding the scarf from around his frame and then passing one end over Spain’s neck, protecting them both from the gelid breeze that was starting to pick up. Antonio practically melted against him, still a little bit giddy, resting his head on Roderich’s shoulder.

“I’m at a loss here, I don’t know what to do.”

Roderich hummed, leaning in to kiss his forehead. “Must be because you always had the past at your disposal, so you’ve never been good at imagining what’s to come.”

“Isn’t that the case with everyone? Time travel or not.”

Antonio could feel the smile against his temple, and so he tilted his head back, gently brushing their lips together, for the first time in a century and barely some months ago at the same time.

“Let’s focus on the present then. In constructing the life you once made up for us. And we’ll see. Besides…”

“...Who knows what the future will hold.” Antonio finished, shaping the words around the enamored smile on his lips.

“Certainly not me, this time.” Austria grinned, leaning in to kiss him again.