Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

20 settembre, 2025

Lovino is going to fucking kill Alfred. Then, he’s going to wait until his body puts itself back together, and kill him again.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Lovi,” Feliciano says with a pout, phone in hand where it’s still playing that goddamn video. Being like “that” obviously referring to the death glare Lovino is alternating between the TV, still broadcasting Alfred’s boss, and Alfred’s YouTube video on Feli’s phone, along with the frantic Italian curses he mutters under his breath. Feliciano has no way of knowing whether Lovino is cursing out Alfred or his boss, and Lovino honestly doesn’t know either. But he has to direct his anger to someone, and a man he can actually confront and punch in the face or kick in the balls without any serious political consequences seems like the better option.

(Even if he often wanted to do the same to that other guy too.)

“Turn off that stupid goddamn video,” Lovino hisses, having heard enough of that grating American voice, swiping at Feliciano’s hand. Unfortunately, Feliciano still has a decent amount of inherent Nation reflexes (or maybe he’s just gotten too used to his brother’s antics over the centuries) and is able to dodge every single one of Lovino’s attempts to knock the phone out of his hand.

“Have you actually watched it though? Because I understand why he did it!”

“Yes I’ve watched it, I’ve had to hear you play it on repeat for the last thirty minutes,” Lovino snaps.

“So you would know he had no choice! Either way, his boss was going to reveal the secret. Isn’t it better Alfred beat him to it in this way?”

And yes, logically, Lovino understands this. No matter what some of the old world (and new world) thinks, he’s not an idiot – that’s his brother. So yes, he’s aware that maybe Alfred’s YouTube video was probably the lesser evil of two options in an inevitable worst case scenario. And he knows too, from his few years of living with the American, how smart he could be when he wanted to, and that he wouldn’t have done this without good reason.

But still. Doesn’t stop him from being pissed.

Lovino finally stops attempting to whack his brother’s phone. He lets out a deep sigh as he turns the TV off, plunging their apartment into blessed silence. He looks to Feliciano, who still looks awfully relaxed and even content with these recent events, and raises an eyebrow.

“You do know this means you’ll never be able to go to your favourite gelato place anymore without being hounded, right?”

Feliciano smiles. “That’s okay – I like meeting new people!”

“Random people will recognise you immediately.”

“I’ve always thought it shouldn’t be a secret anyway!”

“You won’t be able to go on dates with Ludwig in peace anymore.”

At that, Feliciano’s eyes widen, and finally, it seems like the gravity of the situation has sunk in. Lovino rolls his eyes.

21 settembre, 2025

Of course, it’s Feliciano that starts the group FaceTime call. Ever since that damned group chat had been established, it’s a toss up between Feli or Gilbert that starts one. Lovino almost never starts a call or even picks up, since he’s almost always with his brother anyway and he can just talk from beside him. Ludwig is usually quick to answer, because he’s permanently punctual and annoying like that, but similarly to Lovino’s case, whenever he’s with Gilbert he’ll just speak from beside him too.

Speaking of Gilbert, he’s the first one to speak:

“So when do we get to kill Jones?”

Lovino throws his hands up. “Thank you! Somebody here understands!”

Feliciano slaps Lovino’s hands back down. “That is mean! Gilbert, Lovi, do not kill Alfred! I’m sure he has enough on his plate!”

Gilbert snorts. “We all do now because of him.” Then, he seems to calm down. Slightly. “I’m just being dramatic. It’s not even going to be that bad for me, considering I’m not a country and all.” His eyes drift to something off screen. “But for someone like Luddy on the other hand…”

Lovino winces. He hadn’t even considered that; the complications of not only humans finding out about them but questioning everything about them. Maybe it should’ve crossed his mind, but quite frankly, he was more worried about his privacy. Sue him.

Feliciano’s face drops too, and suddenly, none of this seems fun. Not that it was much fun in the first place, but it’s even less fun now.

“Oh,” is all Feli says. Then, “Is Ludwig there?”

Gilbert shouts something in German, and the phone gets jostled around a bit until Ludwig’s face enters the screen. Feliciano visibly lights up.

“Hi, Ludwig!”

Even with the evident stress written all over his face, Ludwig still manages a soft smile for Feli. Ugh. “Hello, Feliciano.”

Lovino sticks his head in the frame. “I’m here too, dickhead.”

Ludwig rolls his eyes. “Hello, Lovino.”

Before Lovino can say anything else, Feliciano shoves him back out of the way which, ow. Rude. “How do you feel? About this whole reveal?” he asks.

“I feel… conflicted,” Ludwig admits after a pause. “I have always been of the belief that our existence shouldn’t have been a secret in the first place–”

“So have I!” Feliciano interrupts, probably the only one in the world who could do that to Ludwig and he’d only smile fondly in response.

“I thought as much. But now that it has been revealed, it has raised many questions about our involvement across history.” Ludwig sighs. “So we are having to figure out the best way to go about an official… announcement, I suppose, of who I am. Which I understand; I truly do. But…”

“They don’t understand how we work,” Feliciano finishes with a huff. “We are our people, and sometimes, our people are horrible and evil and make us do things outside our will and that we do not believe in. But these humans do not know who you are outside the nation, Ludwig! If they did, they’d know you’re the most kindest, most sweetest, most thoughtful, most understanding, most sexiest–”

Lovino gags. Feliciano pushes his face away, not missing a beat.

“–person I know! And I will shout from the rooftops about how great and amazing you are if it gets the humans to understand this!”

“Please do not do that,” Ludwig says, a small amused smile on his face, though his eyes still hold some sadness. Lovino suspects this has less to do with what people may potentially be saying about him, and more so the reminder of his country’s history.

Lovino meets Gilbert’s eyes through the phone. He nods, and they make the silent unanimous decision to slip away from the camera, giving their respective brothers time to speak to each other. Not because Lovino actually cares enough about their relationship to let them be happy, obviously. It’s just because he knows Feliciano may not get much time to be with him in person, and so this is now their main form of communication for the foreseeable future. That’s all.

Lovino goes back to cooking their dinner, faintly picking up on bits and pieces of Feliciano’s conversation. It sounds like, as usual, he’s speaking the most – either about what the other was doing when this whole thing started, or what they had for lunch, Lovino’s not sure – while Ludwig only occasionally offers his input. He eventually hears Ludwig mention something about the European Union doing a steady reveal of their Nations in groups, with the plan to save him for last as they decide the best way to go about it. Lovino remembers hearing about this campaign from his and Feliciano’s bosses in their emergency meeting yesterday – but Lovino, admittedly, was not paying much attention, too busy thinking about all the ways he could kill Alfred, and also about how much he would loathe to sit down and answer all sorts of personal questions just to make the humans satisfied.

Lovino, finding himself curious, decides to rejoin the conversation. “Who are the first group of Nations they’re planning on revealing?”

“Francis, first of all,” Feliciano answers, “and then Belgium, because apparently the humans are wondering if all of us are men, which, obviously we’re not, so it was either her or Hungary, but then Hungary lost a coin toss.”

Lovino nods along absently as he continues chopping his tomatoes. Makes sense.

“And then us, of course!”

Lovino nearly slices his fingers off. He slowly turns to his brother with a scathing death glare that seemed to be becoming increasingly permanent recently, even more so than usual.

“What do you mean us.”

Feliciano gulps.

“Oh… did I not tell you?” he laughs awkwardly, knowing damn well he had not told his brother this. Lovino isn’t surprised if Feliciano’s plan was to keep it a secret from him up until they had to record that damned interview – until he forgot about said plan, obviously. “After you left our meeting early, I told the bosses that I wanted to volunteer the both of us to be one of the first spokespeople. Or spokesnations, I suppose. Haha.” Feliciano pauses. “…Are you mad at me?”

He gets his answer soon enough when Lovino lunges at him, knife still in hand, prompting a scream from the northern nation that was sure to be heard throughout the entire neighbourhood, Ludwig earnestly but failing to separate the two while Gilbert’s roaring laughter crackles through the phone.

24 settembre, 2025

Contrary to what Lovino believed, the two are not immediately hounded when they step out of their apartment. And why would they be – their citizens don’t know what their NP, or rather NPs look like. Humans are not even yet aware there can be multiple NPs for one country. But Lovino’s not holding his breath that this moment of peace can last any longer.

Lovino and Feliciano return to their apartment after a semi-successful grocery trip, where they had managed to buy at least half the things on their list, with the rest of their bags being filled with useless shit Feli had picked out but didn’t need. Lovino would’ve argued, but they were already starting to get looks – apparently, once humans realise that immortal beings representing countries walk around them, your unnaturally bright eyes and that strange pull citizens have towards their NPs start to catch people’s attention. Who would’ve thought.

Lovino’s fumbling with the keys while Feliciano talks his ear off about something or other, when he’s cut off by himself.

“Oh, ciao, Sofia! Haven’t seen you in a while!”

Sofia is their American neighbour who had moved to Rome earlier in the year for work. Her grandparents were Italian immigrants who moved to New York in the 50s, and so she thought moving back to their city was her way of reconnecting with her roots while also earning a living. Having been raised primarily by said grandparents, she was able to speak Italian with near-native fluency, but still looked visibly grateful whenever the brothers spoke English with her.

She lifts her head from where she was just leaving her apartment, giving Feliciano a small smile. “Ah, ciao, Feliciano! Yeah, work’s been a pain.”

Feliciano makes a pitying noise, like he’s actually emotionally invested in this innate small talk about their neighbour’s life. “Oh, that’s a shame! You should take care of yourself. There’s a nice gelato place nearby, I always go there to cheer myself up! Maybe you can try that!”

A genuine smile crosses Sofia’s face. “Yeah, I might do that. Grazie, Feliciano.” Then her eyes finally move over to Lovino, where her smile falters ever so slightly. “Ciao, Lovino.”

Lovino grumbles out a semblance of a greeting. Sofia has always been a little awkward around him – probably because she once tried asking him out and he had shut her down immediately. He’d normally be happy to flirt with a pretty girl (or boy), Nation and human logistics be damned, but he had heard from Feliciano that she had first tried asking him out, and… well. Lovino has never really liked feeling like the backup option.

Maybe he had been a little bit too rude. He probably shouldn’t have told her to fuck off. But it was too late now, and at least she was still friendly with Feliciano, even if that wasn’t particularly hard.

“Crazy about what’s going on, right?” Sofia, for some reason, is still continuing with this small talk with an awkward chuckle. Lovino almost wonders what she’s talking about before – oh yeah. The reveal of their existence. Not that she knows that part yet, obviously.

“Oh yeah! So crazy!” Feliciano starts laughing a little too crazily, and Lovino winces. He’s never been the best at lying. “It’s like… what! That’s crazy! Right?”

God, Lovino needs to open this damn door and get the both of them inside. Why the fuck did Feliciano put so many keys on this thing?!

But Sofia is still speaking. “Did you see the latest interview? Of the England NP?”

Oh – that’s new. He had no idea Arthur had done an interview. He pauses in his attempt at opening the door to sneak a glance to his brother who, predictably, looks just as surprised as he does.

“Uh, no,” Lovino answers. “What did Ar– what did the England NP talk about?”

“Oh, a lot of things.” Sofia starts swiping through her phone. “Here, I was just reading the transcript of the interview.” She hands her phone to them, and the two immediately put their heads together to skim through the article.

A lot of it seems to be boring stuff about his reaction to Alfred’s reveal, explanations about what they are, blah blah blah, who his family is–

Wait.

Lovino does a double take. Scrolls back up. He knows when Feliciano has read the same thing, because he gasps loudly.

“Arthur and Francis are dating?!”

Sofia tilts her head. “How do you know his name is Francis?”

For fuck’s sake, Feli.

“It was on the reddit post,” Lovino blurts out, sudden inspiration coming to him. “The, uh, original leak from Canada. Feli here’s a bit of a redditor.”

“You are?” Sofia looks mildly disturbed by this. Lovino can’t say he blames her.

“I am?” Feliciano asks. Lovino digs his heel into his brother’s toes. “Ow! Yes I am! I’m a massive redditor!”

Sofia looks quite disturbed by this. “I see.” Lovino may have just accidentally knocked down his own brother’s reputation in front of their neighbour. Whoops. She’ll understand eventually.

Lovino finally finds the right key and unlocks the door, shoves his brother into their apartment, and just manages to remember to throw Sofia her phone back with a (frantic) parting of, “Ciao Sofia!”, and slams the door right in her face.

“What was all that for?” Feliciano whines as he drops the grocery bags down. “Now Sofia thinks I’m a creepy redditor!”

“Don’t care,” Lovino says, immediately picking up said bags to start unpacking them in the kitchen. “Did you wanna give our poor neighbour a heart attack? She can find out we’re Nations on the EU interview!”

“Didn’t you tell her to fuck off when she asked for your number?”

“That’s irrelevant!” he snaps. Then he pauses. “Wait, how did you know about that? I didn’t tell you that.”

“She told me, obviously! She’s very nice. Why don’t you like her?”

“It’s not that I dislike her,” Lovino huffs, not willing to dive into the real reasons. “She just… caught me off guard with the question, alright? Why would I give her my number anyway?”

“You could’ve let her down gently, though, Lovi,” Feliciano chides. “If you had just told her you had a boyfriend, she would’ve understood! She was very understanding when I told her I did.”

“But I don’t have a–” Lovino freezes. He turns to Feliciano, who seems to realise he’s done something wrong, but hasn’t yet realised what exactly. “You… told her you had a boyfriend?”

“…Yes?”

Lovino takes a deep breath in. And a deep breath out. “Did you tell her who?”

“No, because she doesn’t know who Ludwig– oh.” Feliciano’s eyes widen. “Oh, I’ve told her I’m dating someone.”

“Yes, you have.”

“And she’s going to learn soon that I’m a Nation and am therefore dating another Nation.”

“I knew you weren’t completely stupid.”

“But what’s the problem with that? Arthur and Francis just did it, why can’t Ludwig and I?!”

Lovino buries his face in his hands. God, give him strength.

“It’s just different, okay? Ludwig probably won’t even want to be public about it, anyway. He’s not even public about your relationship to other Nations.”

“That’s true, but…” Feliciano chews on his lip, looking deep in thought. “I don’t know, I imagined we would be more open about it one day. I don’t mind being private, but… it would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

Lovino wouldn’t know. He’s never dated a Nation long enough to even consider telling other people that weren’t his brother.

“That’s something you’re going to have to talk to him about. But knowing him, and knowing our governments…” Feliciano winces, and Lovino finds himself doing the same. “Look, ours haven’t even realised yet we’re not exactly straight. And the humans haven’t even met Ludwig and they’re already not taking very nicely to him. I just think revealing your relationship on top of all that will turn them crazy.”

Feliciano tilts his head, looking at his brother curiously. “Since when did you care about what others thought?”

“Since, it turns out, we’re going to be public figures very soon!” Lovino says like it’s obvious. “We’re no longer going to just be Lovino and Feliciano Vargas, those incredibly attractive brothers who live in that nice apartment in Rome and argue with each other at the markets. They’ll recognise us as who we actually are: the representations of Italy, personified… how did Alfred word it? Personified in a human body.”

“Two human bodies!”

“Whatever.” Lovino rolls his eyes. “They’ll see us as that, and suddenly, people are going to be thinking very hard about our interactions and relations with other Nations around us. Including certain relations with a Nation that not even a century ago was committing horrific crimes against humanity, and of whom you were allies with in said war.”

“But Ludwig–”

“–Yes, yes, Ludwig is very much against that now. But the humans aren’t going to get that, are they? Not straight away, at least.” Feliciano droops because he knows this and Lovino knows he knows this, but… well, his brother has always been the optimist. Unfortunately, that means Lovino has to be the realist. “Look. Just talk to him about it, alright? It won’t be like this forever.”

Probably.

But it’s enough to comfort Feliciano, even briefly. “You’re right. I didn’t really think we would be public about it straight away either. But reading that even Arthur and Francis announced their relationship, just so easily like that, it’s…” He sighs, almost longingly. For his boyfriend or for what Arthur and Francis have, Lovino’s not sure. Maybe both. “Speaking of, did you know they were dating?”

Lovino opens his mouth ready to say no, but then actually takes a second to think about it. “Well, no, but it makes sense. It explains a lot, actually.” Namely, all their intense staring at each other and heated arguments during meetings. God, those were probably their mating rituals. He had to witness all of that. Ugh.

Feliciano fiddles with his hands. “So… do you think that means the other Nations know? About me and Ludwig?”

“…They probably suspect.” Feliciano’s shoulders drop. Lovino knows that Feli has always tried to respect Ludwig’s preference for privacy. But in all due respect, the two were quite obvious. “But if any of them do, they wouldn’t expose you two like that.”

He would hope not, at least.

“So what do we do about Sofia, then?”

Lovino nearly smacks himself – he had completely forgotten that was how this whole conversation started. “I’ll… we’ll talk to her. Ask her not to tell anyone about the fact you’re in a relationship at all.” A Nation’s dating pool is only so large, after all. He doesn’t doubt that with all the fucking detectives online, people wouldn’t immediately try to figure out who Feli’s potential boyfriend would be.

“Makes sense.” Feliciano nods. With all that sorted, he claps his hands. “Right! All that serious talk has made me hungry! What’s for lunch?”

Unfortunately, before they can even discuss their options, a notification from his and Feli’s boss’ secretary comes through. Lovino looks down at his phone: it’s telling him the time and place for the interview they have to record later this evening. Feliciano looks at the identical message on his own phone and gasps happily.

“Oh, I can’t wait! Aren’t you excited, Lovi?!”

Lovino groans.

Fucking Alfred.

Lovino shifts in his seat, already beginning to tap his foot. For what was promised to be a short interview, there sure was a lot of things to get done beforehand.

They’re in a studio set, with Lovino and Feliciano sitting across from their president, Sergio Matterella. He currently adjusts the EU-approved script of questions in his hands as the makeup artist does some final touch-ups and the crew get set up. The crew have all been briefed on what’s happening, judging by their occasional wide-eyed stares, while the makeup artist is clearly none the wiser. She answers some light small talk engaged in by Feliciano about the type of makeup she uses, and at one point he tells her how he had once tried practising his eyeliner skills on his brother but ended up making him look like a panda instead. They giggle together, Matterella tries and fails to hide an amused smirk, the crew pretend not to hear anything, and Lovino looks to the ceiling and prays for this to be over soon.

And then finally, the makeup artist leaves to watch the interview somewhere behind the cameras, the crew announce they’re ready, a countdown starts, and their president speaks.

“Hello Italy and the world,” he says. “Following the news out of America, revealing the truth of the beings known as National Personifications, we are joining the European Union’s campaign of introducing you to your Nation. I am joined here today by Mr. Feliciano Vargas and Mr. Lovino Vargas, your embodiments of Italy.”

Lovino, under the glare of the lights, just manages to spot the makeup artist’s jaw drop. They really should’ve told her what was happening.

Feliciano waves to the camera with a bright smile. “Hello, world! I’m Feliciano! It’s nice to finally meet you officially!”

Lovino merely nods. “Lovino. Hello.”

“Let’s first start with what I’m sure people are already wondering: why are there two of you?”

The other EU nations participating in the campaign have a script with pre-approved questions, but this first question is obviously different to the others; they figured they would try to address the fact there’s two Italies. Lovino probably should’ve paid better attention in their meeting as to what the rest of their questions would be about so he could prepare, but he doesn’t think Feliciano paid much attention either, so… they’ll just wing it.

Feliciano jumps to answer. “Oh, I know! I can understand it’s a little confusing, since most people, at least outside of Italy, may not know this, but Italy – the country itself – used to be made up of many many states and kingdoms! I represented all the northern states and kingdoms, like the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia and the rest, while my brother here represented the southern ones, the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily! Of course, ever since the unification, we like to think we both represent Italy as a whole now.” He leans over to link arms with his brother, somehow smiling even brighter.

Lovino continues, not even sparing Feliciano a glance, letting the audience know that this was a common occurrence. “As to why there’s still two of us even now – there are things even we Nations still don’t understand about our existence. We assume it’s because enough people on our respective sides developed a distinct enough culture that we continued to remain separate embodiments, but.” He shrugs.

Feliciano giggles, detaching himself from his brother. “And it’s a good thing we did! There was a brief period where we thought one would remain as the main Nation and the other would disappear! Those were a very sad few months.”

“Feli…”

“Lovi kept crying and crying but it’s okay because so was I and–”

“Feliciano!”

Feliciano’s mouth snaps shut, looking sheepish. “Hehe. Sorry.”

Matterella visibly looks like he’s holding back his sigh. Lovino can’t say he blames him – ten years as their boss would do that to a person. “And the two of you have been representing Italy – or, your respective sides for how long exactly?”

Feliciano immediately turns to his brother. Lovino raises an eyebrow. “The fuck are you looking at me for?”

Matterella winces at the swear word. He gestures to the crew to cut that part out.

“You know these things better!”

“Ugh.” Lovino rolls his eyes. “Fine. To be honest, we don’t know exactly. We have memories of our grandfather, who you would classify now as Ancient Rome, while we were essentially toddlers. But it was around that time that the Roman Empire was beginning to fall. So I’d say sometime around the year 476.” He shrugs yet again. “Something like that.”

Matterella, who has known this since he first went into power all those years ago and is probably sick of the two of them by now, swiftly moves on. “And what does it mean to the both of you to be Italy?”

Feliciano sighs earnestly with two hands over his heart. “Oh, it’s wonderful. We feel so blessed! We have a very long and very rich history that we strive to carry on from our dear grandfather. Our culture, our art, our people, our food! Oh, our food, especially. It is the best on Earth, and I’m sure many citizens in many countries will agree.” He gives a wink to the camera. “I’m so proud of what our country and our people have become.”

Lovino nods, trying to look nonchalant, but he lets a small smile come through anyway. “What he said.”

“And what do you think about becoming a public figure?”

“I do not mind at all!” Feliciano chirps, which does not come as a surprise to anyone. “I love meeting new people! And I’ve always thought our existence shouldn’t have been a secret in the first place, anyway. It just turned out that way. So I’m glad it’s out now!”

Lovino hesitates before giving a slight shrug. “I’ll admit, I was… wary when it was first leaked. My main concern was having no private life. I value my privacy I think a little more than my brother does. But we can’t change the past now, so whatever. I’ll deal with it. I don’t really expect much to change for me, in terms of what I do in the public eye, anyway.”

“But we’ll probably have to give more interviews like this, Lovi!”

Lovino deadpans, “Yay.”

Matterella sighs like he’s getting too old for this, before moving onto a question about the importance of the European Union.

r/nationalpersonifications

EU’s #MyNation Campaign

Discussion

The European Union are starting a #MyNation Campaign, steadily introducing their NPs to the world via prerecorded interviews with their respective leaders. The first round of NPs are France, Italy, and Belgium. Please use this post to discuss topics, ask questions, or general reactions relevant to their interviews as to not clutter the sub.

1k upvotes | 304 comments

elderlymutantninjaturtle

Okay but can we address the fact that apparently ancient rome is the italies’ grandfather??? How the fuck does that work?? Why isn’t he their father?

bertxernie

Judging by their answers I don’t think they know either. Seems like for some NPs, familial relationships are a bit more arbitrary

caesarsknife

Like America and Canada are biologically twins but they weren’t born at the same time and they have different dads. None of this shit is logical I think we just have to take their explanations as it is

odussy20

Well it debunks the main theory I had about the ancient civilisations just being the current NPs in another form. They had their OWN NP and apparently have some sort of familial connection to their modern day countries. But does this mean current day Greece had an Ancient Greece as a grandparent? And Egypt with Ancient Egypt???

waltzingmatildaz

People found the Greece NP’s twitter and apparently he mentions a grandmother. So yes I think you’re right the Ancients are just the modern day countries’ grandparents

horny247

GILF Ancient Greece🤤🤤🤤

30 downvotes

notsosecrethistory

Does the existence of a North Italy imply Padania has some truth to it

augustosgloopa

What fucking year are you from of course it doesn’t. That’s just some old bullshit political rhetoric that has no real grounds to it. Besides, they made it clear that they USED to represent Northern and Southern Italy back when Italy was multiple states, but ever since the unification they now BOTH represent Italy

dawallabies

We can’t call both of them Italy though, that’ll get confusing

rosita_89

i think there’s already a consensus to either call them Feliciano and Lovino or North and South Italy if we want to distinguish them, but otherwise understand they both embody Italy as a whole now

ferrari1951

I don’t think it makes sense for a southerner to represent the whole of Italy.

rosita_89

are you seriously policing the identities of these immortal countries💀by that logic, it wouldn’t make sense for a northerner to represent the whole of Italy either but here we are

ferrari1951

I’m merely giving my opinion as someone actually from Italy.

rosita_89

so am i and i think you’re just trying to have an excuse to put down southern italians but alright

hanarosa

Okay but the real question is what do the Italies think about the new pope

waltzingmatildaz

I found South Italy’s twitter and I think I have an idea of what one of them thinks

paulankle

why is his account structured like a ferrari stan account

rosita_89

Because he’s the literal embodiment of italy he’s like THE original tifoso😭

bertxernie

WAIT AMERICA IS IN THE REPLIES LMAOO

augustosgloopa

what about north italy's twitter

waltzingmatildaz

I think I found his twitter but it’s all genuinely just tweets talking about pasta or pictures of pasta he made. I wish I was joking

rosita_89

mamma mia we’re never beating the stereotypes

waltzingmatildaz

You didn’t really help your case by saying mamma mia

30 settembre

Lovino doesn’t often like to think back to when he first discovered Feliciano and Ludwig’s relationship. Mainly because that involved having to recall when he had walked into Feli’s apartment in Venice, only to find his younger brother and Ludwig making out on the couch, both their shirts off and Ludwig’s hair in a disarray Lovino had never seen before: an image that would unfortunately haunt Lovino for the rest of his immortal life. They had only barely jumped away from each other, but the damage had already been done – Lovino had immediately started to scream bloody murder, before Feli (who was still shirtless) desperately tried to calm him down whilst also physically restraining him from lunging at Ludwig, who was attempting to put a shirt on while also trying to placate him.

Eventually, Lovino had shaken his brother off, but did not jump to attack Ludwig like they assumed he would or like he felt like doing. He had given them both the most withering of glares, spat out some not-so-nice words in Italian to his brother, before turning on his heel and stalking off.

Lovino had refused to contact his brother for the next two weeks. It was certainly not the longest the two brothers had been separated without contact – there was that entire period before Italy had unified and only heard about how the other was doing through sparse letters and bits and pieces from the Nations and humans around them, and the occasional meetings every few years. And, of course, that time in the second world war when the Allied Forces had occupied Southern Italy. But at that point, in the 70s, with the invention of handheld phones, it was like Feliciano always found an excuse to speak to him whenever they were apart for even a day. So those two weeks may have been the longest period Lovino and Feliciano didn’t speak to or see each other in the modern era.

In the end, it was Gilbert (a neutral party who had already known about Feliciano and Ludwig’s relationship) who metaphorically knocked some sense into Lovino. And physically, by smacking him upside the head. After what felt like an eternity of back and forth stubbornness, Lovino finally let loose that the real reason he was so upset was less about the relationship itself (“Obviously they would end up together, have you seen the way they’ve looked at each other the last century? Fucking gross.”) and more so the fact his brother had not told him he was in said relationship.

Of course, once this was relayed to Feliciano in what was surely the most overly-complicated game of telephone in existence, Feliciano had travelled down to Lovino’s home in Naples, where he had cried and cried and apologised to Lovino, explaining that he was just worried that he would’ve disapproved. Lovino, through tears of his own, had said that he was stupid for thinking that, and he wished Feliciano would have more trust in him. And Feliciano had kept crying and saying that of course he trusted him, they were brothers, and that’s why he cared so much about his opinion on his partner. And so Lovino had shot back that he only ever wanted his younger brother to be happy and if for some reason that involved the German then so be it.

That went back and forth for some time, though at some point they kept going around in circles as they kept crying, until finally Feliciano just launched himself at his older brother and hugged him, fully sobbing into his shoulder. Lovino had sniffled, rolled his eyes, but hugged his stupid brother back. Because for all the insults he hurled towards Ludwig throughout the decades, he knew deep down he was good for Feliciano.

Then Lovino had clarified despite the fact he was okay with the relationship, he still definitely did not want them getting… intimate of any sorts while he was in the vicinity. Feliciano had nodded in understanding, and admitted that after Lovino had walked in on them it really killed the mood, and Lovino had smacked him for getting that image in his head again and Feli only laughed, and finally things were back to normal.

All that is to say that Lovino is, once again, going to kill Alfred. And Arthur and Francis too, for good measure.

Because their lovey dovey and more importantly public relationship has just been serving as a constant reminder of what Feli cannot have. Not yet, anyway. Most likely not until this whole NP reveal business dies down, which would probably take a few months or even years. But for Lovino’s stupid silly dear brother, a few months may as well be a lifetime.

So here Feli was, cooped up in their shared apartment in Rome, staring at his phone like he was willing it to ring from a call from his man. But it wouldn’t. Because over the past few days since Alfred’s goddamn reveal, Ludwig and his government (and his brother) have had a million meetings and interviews to plan leading up to his reveal, which is understandable, he supposes, but it just means he’s been even more busy. And even when Ludwig is eventually revealed, again, their relationship likely won’t be. So they can’t go on any dates in the foreseeable future. And he won’t be able to travel as much as he usually does to see him, because the NP of Italy being seen constantly in Germany (the land) and vice versa would raise a lot of questions.

And it’s because of all of the above that Feliciano is sad. Like, really sad. Unnaturally so. And that makes Lovino uncomfortable, because his brother is supposed to be the happy one. The painfully optimistic one, even if at times some of that optimism is put on just a little bit in front of the other Nations. Yes, he knows Feliciano can feel sad too (thinking back to their brief argument in the 70s, again, comes to mind), but really, it’s not natural.

So he does something he almost never does.

bastard that feli’s dating

4:32pm

hey asshole

can you not spare like 2 seconds of your time to call or text my brother

After a minute or two of no response in sight, especially from someone who typically responds within the second, Lovino gets impatient and swipes to another contact.

gilbert

4:34pm

hey asshole

is your brother really so busy he can’t spare my brother 2 seconds of his time

This time, the response comes almost instantly.

Is Feli sad???

what the fuck do you think

Okay fair enough

But yes Luddy is extremely busy

They took his phone from him too

I probably should’ve told Feli that earlier actually that’s my bad

what the fuck why

To stop him from getting distracted probably

bullshit that man is never distracted

Maybe when it comes to Feli he is

Lovino rolls his eyes. Then he pauses, tapping his fingers on the side of his phone trying to figure out how to word his next question.

does anyone on your side know

about them

I think they suspect Luddy is not straight

Because duh lol

But nothing involving Feli specifically

But even if they did know about the two I doubt they’d do or say anything about it if that’s what you’re worried about

Mainly because they want to avoid a headache

fuck you my brother is not a headache

He’s quick to respond with that, ignoring all the times he himself has caught a headache interacting with his brother, because that’s different.

Chill I meant the media reaction and all the implications

I love your brother too you know

Not the same way my brother does obviously

But neither of us want to see him sad

Yeah, Lovino thinks, looking up to see his brother sigh for the millionth time. He doesn’t want that either.

When he looks back down he finds another message, evidently not sent by Gilbert.

Lovino, this is Ludwig. Please tell Feli that I love him very much and I am sorry it has to be like this for now but please be patient. One day we will be able to, as you say, shout from the rooftops. But not yet. Please, wait for me.

Lovino scrunches up his nose.

ew

but fine

Thank you.

Also, please take him out somewhere, like his favourite pasta place or gelato place. It might be different because your people know your faces now, but I think he would still appreciate it.

Now, that’s what Lovino had been considering doing, but it was something he had also been dreading: going out. He hadn’t done so yet (without a shitty disguise of sunglasses and a cap, that is), not since the EU video with the two of them had been released – and it wasn’t because he was a coward who was scared of what people would think, thank you, Feli. He already knows roughly what people’s reactions are from his occasional doomscroll. The humans have generally taken better to Feliciano than to Lovino, which was predictable, but turns out people seem to enjoy the dynamic between him and his brother anyway, which extended to liking Lovino too, so go figure.

(But amidst the relatively welcome reception, there was also increased discussion about the differences between the north and south, and how obviously the southern representation was rude because the people there were rude and lazy and poor compared to the hardworking rich people of the north and – well. Lovino just barely managed to refrain from replying to all sorts of posts. Barely.)

Still, Lovino has never been the most sociable person. He doesn’t know how he’ll handle people staring at him and whispering to each other, dissecting him and his brother like they can truly understand the weight of centuries of living. Or even coming up to them, asking for photos or for autographs, like he’s heard people are apparently doing now for Arthur and Francis and Emma. He even saw a picture of Arthur somehow looking both disgruntled and slightly panicked while holding a baby, which had made him snicker.

But if it would make his brother happy…

i already thought of that

asshole

Okay.

but thanks i guess

No problem, Lovino. Please take care of yourself, and also tell Feli to take care of himself too.

whatever

i still hate you btw

Noted.

“Right,” Lovino says, pushing himself to his feet and clapping his hands together. Feliciano doesn’t even flinch. Christ, he really does have to do something. “We’re going out.”

Finally, that spurs some life in his brother and he looks up in confusion. “Huh?”

“You. Me. Out.” Lovino emphasises each word with a clap to get it through Feli’s thick sad skull. “I can’t stand looking at you like this. It pisses me off.”

And it makes him sad too, but he’s not going to let Feliciano know that.

Unfortunately for him, Feliciano has had a lifetime of interpreting the underlying meaning in his brother’s insults. The corner of his lips flicker up, like he’s trying to hide his smile.

“Okay!” he says, getting up too. Not quite exactly back to his usual bounciness, but Lovino will take it for now. “Where are we going?”

“Are you up for gelato?”

Feliciano’s face lights up just that little bit more, and maybe, Lovino thinks, this might be worth it.

Unfortunately, that feeling doesn’t last for long. The second they step outside, people’s heads seem to turn towards them like a sunflower does to the light. Of course, Lovino is aware of people’s inherent ability to recognise and take comfort in their Nation – before, they may not have understood that feeling, but it appears that ability has been heightened now that people are actually aware of who they are. They manage to make the short walk to the gelato shop without being stopped, and that is where, of course, the peace ends.

As soon as they step foot inside, the gelato shop goes silent. Then, just as quickly, people take their phones out, either typing furiously or trying to not-so-discretely take photos. And some even, to Lovino’s great horror, are brave enough to come up and ask for a selfie or an autograph or even blessings, like they’re the pope or something. They probably should’ve clarified in that video or something that they should not be ranked higher or considered holier than the pope, even if said pope was – ugh – American.

And look, it’s not like Lovino hates the attention. It’s definitely not what he’s used to, but quite frankly, he had been half-preparing for everyone to hate him because he knows he’s not the most… friendliest of characters. So the citizens – the ones they meet here in Rome, at least – being in such awe of him is something he’ll take.

“Take my baby!” someone yells and suddenly, Lovino finds his arms full of said baby. He faintly registers his brother leaning into the photo too, probably smiling more than whatever grimace Lovino is trying to hide on his face. Suddenly, that one photo of Arthur with a baby isn’t very funny anymore.

Feliciano, on the other hand, seems to be thriving. He smiles at everyone, makes small talk with some, and makes sure to pose properly for any selfies. But Lovino’s one of two people in the world who can truly see that Feliciano’s smile is just that little bit forced. He doesn’t doubt that Feliciano likes the sudden praise and affection to an extent, and Feli himself had always been an advocate that their existence shouldn’t have been a secret in the first place, but it’s obvious to Lovino that his other secret is weighing on him.

By the time the two finally have their gelato (free of charge, which… hey, Lovino isn’t going to complain about, even if Feliciano had tried to insist otherwise), the excitement over seeing them has died down a little bit. Sure, people are still whispering eagerly to each other while sneaking glances at them, and he’s sure multiple pictures of them have been shared to every social media platform (including that one of him holding the baby and fuck, he hopes Antonio or Gilbert don’t see that. He’ll never hear the end of it). But they’re at least able to sit down at a somewhat discrete corner of the cafe, where they can hopefully speak without too many ears prying.

“You like this, don’t you?” Lovino asks, as Feliciano dives into his gelato.

“Like what?” Feliciano asks through a mouthful of stracciatella. Lovino makes a sound of disgust and throws his brother a napkin. He thanks him and wipes around his mouth.

“The attention,” Lovino clarifies. Feliciano shrugs.

“It’s not too bad. I like people! Especially our own.” Then, his eyes turn downcast. “It sucks I can’t be public about everything, though.”

The last part is muttered quietly enough for only Lovino to hear. He says nothing at first, taking a small spoonful of his pistachio gelato.

“I messaged Ludwig earlier,” he finally says, and Feliciano’s head whips up. “Well, I was messaging Gilbert, and at some point, Ludwig took over.”

“What did he say?!” Feliciano whisper-shouts, basically on the edge of his seat. “He hasn’t been returning any of my calls or responding to my messages. I thought it was just because he was busy, but…”

“That’s probably because they took his phone,” Lovino explains. “Something about having less of a distraction.”

Feliciano frowns. Lovino is once again struck by just how similar they look when that rare feature overtakes his brother’s face like that. “That’s not very nice. Did he say anything else?”

Lovino makes a face. Not fully willing to say it aloud, he unlocks his phone, scrolls up to the message and hands it to Feliciano. He’s quick to take it, and it’s evident when he’s read the message because he visibly melts and lets out a little “aww”. Lovino tries not to roll his eyes.

“He’s so sweet,” Feliciano coos, and before Lovino can say or do anything, his fingers are flying across the screen.

Lovino nearly lunges across the table. “Oi, bastard, you better not be flirting with him through my phone–“

“I would never,” Feli insists with a huge grin across his face and fuck, he’s definitely flirting with Ludwig on his phone through Gilbert’s number. He’s going to kill him.

Lovino finally manages to snatch his phone back and just about manages to hold back his gag when he reads the messages his brother had sent.

gilbert

4:58pm

ciaooo gilbert this is feliciano please show this to ludwig!!!

i love you too sooo soo much i will wait lifetimes for you amore mio (though i hope it doesn’t come to that!!!)

please take care of yourself too i can’t imagine how stressful this must be for you❤️❤️❤️remember you are strong and that i will always love you!!!!😚😚😚😚😚

see you at the meeting in december❤️❤️can’t wait to show you how much i miss you😉😉😉😉😉

A reply had already come in. Well, two replies. Lovino is quick to reply back.

LMAOOO I showed Ludwig this and he is genuinely too flustered to speak

Also I’m totally screenshotting this and cropping it without context😂😂😂

Didn’t know you loved me that much, Roma😉😉😉

fuck off

With that, Lovino turns his phone off (he wishes in that moment they could snap phones shut again – it was always way more satisfying) and grumbles at Feliciano’s giggles, who had evidently seen Gilbert’s replies before Lovino took back his phone.

“Eat your damn gelato,” Lovino snaps, though it lacks its usual heat. Feliciano continues to giggle around his spoon. Their citizens continue to stare at them curiously, but for now, Lovino ignores it.

He’s achieved what he came here to do anyway: put a real smile on his brother’s face.

The walk back to their apartment was thankfully quite peaceful with little interruption, apart from the occasional gasps of recognition from citizens. Lovino doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to being easily recognisable like this, but he supposes it could be worse. As long as he didn’t scroll through the evil that was social media, he would be fine. Probably.

Feliciano, at least, was significantly happier now that he had indirectly communicated with Ludwig. Lovino ended up messaging Gilbert a little longer (during which Feliciano kept giving him looks and kicking his foot excitedly, which – yeah, Lovino has no idea what that was about, but whatever), and it turned out the EU and German government had finally set a date for Ludwig’s reveal in the next few weeks. And seeing as Gilbert no longer represented a nation, he would be still able to keep a relatively private life, even after Alfred accidentally leaked his identity through his Instagram. Lucky bastard.

And then, for the second time that week, the brothers arrive at their apartment the same time their neighbour Sofia is leaving her’s. The three freeze in the hallway, staring at each other like they were all caught doing something they weren’t supposed to do. Though, what Sofia has to look so scared about, Lovino has no idea. They don’t look that intimidating now that she knows they’re Nations, do they? She has literally seen Feliciano drop and trip over all their groceries before.

Feliciano, of course, is the first to break the ice.

“Ciao, Sofia! Heading somewhere?”

That seems to finally spur her out of her frozen state. “Oh, uh, yeah. I… have a date, actually.”

Huh. Good for her.

Feliciano gasps in excitement. “Oh, do you?! That’s so exciting! Is it a first one? What are you doing? Where are you going?!”

Sofia looks mildly overwhelmed by the questioning, and Lovino can’t blame her. At least she looks less nervous now.

“Uh, yes it’s a first one. We’ve been coworkers ever since I moved here. And we’ve always been friendly to each other at work, but it wasn’t until recently that I started looking at her in a different light, you know?” A light blush overtakes her cheeks. “And then last night she asked me out, so we’re going to this restaurant she recommended.”

Feliciano coos. He’s always loved love. “Aw, that’s so sweet! My boyfriend told me something similar happened between him and me. There’s something romantic about being friends first before dating, isn’t there?”

“And speaking of relationships,” Lovino interrupts, before Feliciano can get sidetracked. “Sofia, there’s something we were planning on talking to you about.”

Sofia appears to gulp. “Okay?”

“I assume you’ve seen the news?”

Sofia nods slowly. “You’re… Italy. The both of you.”

“Better believe it.” Lovino clasps a hand onto Feliciano’s shoulder. “Now, my brother here told you he has a boyfriend. That normally would be fine for you to know but, well, with this whole reveal bullshit, we would actually rather prefer it if you didn’t know about that. Because that relationship is private even amongst our kind. And–”

“Your kind?” Sofia asks curiously, fixating on the entirely wrong part of that sentence. “The USA NP said you’re all basically human.”

Lovino tries not to let his eye twitch. Americans and their pedanticness… “Alfred is young and has very… modern views of our existence. I don’t care about those logistics and genetics and DNA or whatever the fuck.”

Feliciano hums thoughtfully. “It would be cool if we could see how biologically related we are, though.”

“We don’t need a DNA test for that, fucking look at us!” Lovino exclaims, gesturing between the two of them because, yeah, they do look awfully similar. “Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is we would really rather you not tell anyone else that Feli has a boyfriend. That stays a secret until whenever they decide it’s no longer a secret. So, you know. Just forget you ever heard about that.”

“Say please,” Feliciano whispers.

Lovino rolls his eyes. “Please.”

Sofia’s eyes have been darting between the two this entire time, and Lovino lets himself feel some pity for her. She’s probably going over every interaction they’ve had and recontextualising it now she knows who they actually are. Poor girl.

“Um. I kinda already tweeted about it?”

Lovino and Feliciano stare at her.

“You what–”

“I didn’t say your names!” Sofia rushes to say, already scrambling to get out her phone. “I just– a couple months ago, I tweeted about trying to ask for your numbers – which, sorry about that by the way that’s so embarrassing in hindsight – and mentioned I live next to two brothers and somehow, people found it and a lot of them are now theorising I live next to you? Which, you know, they’re right about, but I haven’t actually replied to any of them on whether it’s true or not because that felt like an invasion of privacy and I remember you said in that interview, Lovino, you didn’t like that about the reveal, so…”

At some point during her nervous rambling, Sofia shows them her twitter account and all the replies and messages she’s getting and yeah – that’s a decent amount of people fancying themselves as amateur sleuths. Lovino curses under his breath. He knew that would happen. He has the right mind to tell Sofia off for it, but…

Well, she didn’t confirm anything, did she? And she looks extremely apologetic over it. Or maybe she’s just freaking out thinking she’s pissed off her immortal neighbours.

Well, one of them.

“That’s okay, Sofia!” Feliciano reassures her, reaching out to gently pat her hands that were still nervously clutching her phone. “You couldn’t have known back then when you tweeted that what would happen! Right, Lovi?”

There’s something in his tone and his eyes that makes it clear to Lovino he doesn’t want him to be mad at their neighbour, especially right before her date. He doesn’t need to do that, though, because Lovino’s already made up his mind.

“Yeah, look. It’s whatever. Just… deny it all if you can. Hopefully that means people won’t try and dox you and therefore us, either.”

Sofia, who was beginning to sigh with relief, stiffens all over again. “...Is that an actual possibility?"

Ah, shit. He hadn’t meant to actually scare or worry her. “Well, uh, probably not. But we’ve never had our secret exposed like this, so…”

“Don’t worry about that happening,” Feliciano stresses, shooting Lovino a look. “As soon as you say you don’t actually live next to us, I’m sure people will forget all about it!”

Sofia starts nodding, looking more reassured. Lovino wonders if – despite her being an American citizen – her Italian ancestry and strong desire to feel more connected with her grandparents’ culture helps her to feel at least some comfort at Feliciano’s words.

“Right, maybe. So sorry again, I realise this must be really annoying for you two.”

“Not at all!” Feliciano says. “I personally have never really minded my relationship to be public, but as my brother reminded me, it just gets all messy with this reveal business, you know? And plus, Ludwig prefers us to be private anyway!”

Sofia furrows her eyebrows. “Ludwig, as in–”

“Is that what you’re wearing,” Lovino swiftly cuts off whatever revelation Sofia was about to make on Feliciano’s partner, also stepping on his foot before he could indirectly reveal anything more, “for your first date?”

It works, because Sofia blinks and looks down at her outfit: jeans and a flowery patterned blouse, and a jacket draped over her arm. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“Nothing,” Lovino lies. “But it just looks very… casual.”

Sofia crosses her arms, almost as if to cover her outfit. “Well, I didn’t want to look like I was trying too hard!”

“It’s a first date, of course you’ll be trying hard,” Lovino says, like it hasn’t been years since he’s gone on a first date. “Didn’t you say she’s your coworker? You need to show her something different – a strong first impression of how you look outside of work.”

“Ooh, yes!” Feliciano agrees, nodding along vehemently. “Something that will make her go, ‘wow, Sofia is somehow even more gorgeous outside of her work clothes!”

Sofia chuckles, picking at her top. “Oh, but I don’t think I have anything in my closet like that.”

A lightbulb suddenly goes off in Lovino’s head.

“But I do,” he says, and moves to open his and his brother’s apartment, which he thankfully does in one go this time. “Feli, do you remember that one time Emma had to stay over here because she got so drunk after a meeting–”

“–that she threw up multiple times, yes!” Feliciano laughs. “Oh, poor her.”

“Emma?” Sofia says, following after the two brothers, because why the hell not. “As in, the Belgium NP?”

“Yeah, she’s awesome!” Lovino hears Feliciano say as he disappears into his bedroom, digging all the way to the back of his wardrobe. “We were all so stressed after that meeting, so me and Lovi and Emma and a few others decided to go out for drinks to take our minds off things. But she had a little too much to drink that she couldn’t get to her hotel in time before she started throwing up, and so we took her back here so she could sober up and shower and clean herself up while we waited for her brothers to show up!”

“Just the one brother!” Lovino corrects over his shoulder. “Luxembourg went out with us too. Netherlands was not impressed to have to pick up both of his drunk siblings.”

“Oh yeah!” Feliciano giggles. “I don’t remember much from that night, to be honest. I also drank a lot! Do you like drinking, Sofia?”

“Um,” Sofia says, and Lovino can only imagine she’s still grappling with the idea of her neighbours casually listing off countries as people they hang out and get drunk with. “Yeah, I drink a bit.”

“Ooh, we should grab a drink together sometime, then! Lovi doesn’t drink that often anymore, at least not when it’s just the two of us. Probably because he knows at least one of us needs to be sober if we both want to make it home in one piece. There was this one time, actually, back in the 70s after a UN meeting in Sydney, where he got so drunk he and Jett – that’s Australia, by the way – tried to scale the newly built Opera House and–”

Lovino finally finds what he’s looking for and rushes back out before Feliciano can finish that story.

“I found it,” he announces, shooting his brother a glare that screams shut the fuck up as he passes him and hands her the dress. “It might be your size. Try it on in the bathroom.”

Sofia stares wide-eyed at the red dress. “Oh, this is nice, but won’t, uh… Miss Belgium want it back?”

Lovino waves her off. “Nah, she never even asked for it again, and it’s been ages. She has plenty of others.” Then he looks at something over her shoulder, sniffing once. “And, uh. Consider it an apology.”

Sofia blinks. “For wh– oh. That.”

Lovino clears his throat. “I was being a dick. Which wasn’t fair to you. Shitty day, you know?”

Not exactly the reason for why he had lashed out, but he’s not going to bare all of that right now, especially not with Feliciano watching the exchange so intently like he can’t believe what’s happening.

“Oh, no, I totally get it.” Sofia chuckles awkwardly, shifting the dress in her arms. “It’s like – of course going out on a date with a human would be weird, right? Knowing… what you are now, I can see why you would’ve felt uncomfortable.”

Lovino exchanges a quick glance with his brother. Probably best not to tell her that many Nations – him included – have had flings with humans for as long as they’ve been around.

“Still, I probably shouldn’t have told you to fuck off,” Lovino admits sheepishly. “So, you know. I’m sorry.”

The corner of Sofia’s lips perk up. Like she recognises just how hard it is for someone as stubborn as him to say those words. “I… Thank you.” She eyes the dress. “If this date goes well and she compliments the dress, I’ll consider you completely forgiven.”

She’s teasing him now, he can tell. Lovino finds himself genuinely chuckling. “Well, you should probably try it on then. You might be running late now, but if she’s Italian, she’ll understand.”

Sofia’s eyes widen, like she’s only just realised the time, but Feliciano begins gently ushering her to the bathroom.

“There’s also some bits of makeup in the drawers if you wanted to add anything else to your already pretty face! Neither of us have really used it, I promise. There was this one time where I was practising my eyeliner skills on Lovino, though, and–”

“God, not this story again,” Lovino groans. Feliciano laughs, and Sofia’s laugh can be faintly heard from inside the bathroom too.

A few minutes go by, enough for Lovino to think about what they should have for dinner, until Sofia steps out. It’s a simple, loose, strapless red dress that ends right above her knees, and she’s already wearing her leather jacket, which Lovino thinks completes the look even more. She’s also, as per Feliciano’s suggestion, touched up on her makeup, adding a darker red lip colour to match the dress.

Lovino lets out an impressed whistle while Feliciano gasps in excitement, clapping his hands together.

“Oh, you look beautiful! Even more than you did already!”

Sofia flushes, smoothing down the front of her dress almost self-consciously. “It’s not too much, is it?”

“Not at all – it’s perfect for a first date dinner,” Lovino says. Then he raises an eyebrow. “Are you really going to question fashion advice from the literal embodiments of Italy?”

Sofia laughs loudly at this. “Ha! You’re right. I’ll definitely take both your words for it. But thank you,” she says sincerely. “I actually need to run back to my apartment now and drop these clothes off and then head to my date – she just messaged she’s downstairs to pick me up – but,” she catches her breath, giving the two an earnest smile, “seriously, I can’t thank you enough for this. Thank you.”

“It was no problem!” Feliciano says. “I hope the date goes well! Tell us all about it!”

“I will,” Sofia promises.

“Ciao, Sofia,” Lovino says, Feliciano echoing him. “Also, keep the dress, alright?”

“Are you sure?” Sofia asks, tugging at it. “Really, I’m fine to just wear it once and return it–”

“Belgium will genuinely cry tears of joy when she hears her dress has been used to help out a date between two women,” Lovino insists. “Said date is also waiting for you. Now go.”

“Right, right. Ciao!” And then Sofia is gone.

As soon as the door is shut, Feliciano turns to Lovino with a fond smile. “That was nice of you, you know. To apologise to Sofia by helping her out like that.”

“Yeah, well,” Lovino grumbles, trying to hide his flushing face. “I was a dick to her, so. Yeah.”

Feliciano coos at him and Lovino is already preparing to take a step back, but he’s too late.

“Oh, look how mature you are now!” Feliciano takes his brother’s face in his hands and plants a loud kiss to his forehead, despite Lovino’s protests. “They grow up so fast!”

“Shut up! I’m older than you!” Lovino snarls, though the effect is lost with his face still squished between Feliciano’s hands. He tries to shove his brother off, who in return loops his arms around his neck and abruptly pulls him into a hug. Lovino, caught off guard, stills. Physical affection is not uncommon when it comes to his brother, but this feels different.

Lovino faintly recalls a time where the angle of his hug would not be possible, back when he was significantly taller than Feli. Now, his younger brother is the same height as him, and Lovino can rest his chin on his shoulder without straining his neck. Where the hell did the time go?

“Thank you, Lovi,” Feliciano says into Lovino’s hair. He makes a confused sound.

“For what?”

“I saw those messages with Ludwig. You took me out to cheer me up! That was really sweet of you.”

Lovino splutters. “Well– of course I did! You would do the same! Shut up!”

“Of course I would!” Feliciano echoes with a laugh, planting another kiss to his brother’s cheek, who accepts it this time with only a few grumbles, before pulling away. “Anyway, what’s for dinner? I’m starving.”

“You just had gelato.”

“That was a snack, not dinner! Will you make me pasta?”

“Make it yourself, dickhead!”

In hindsight, Lovino really shouldn’t answer calls while still half-asleep. But he normally doesn’t get calls that aren’t his brother or Gilbert doing a group call (a depressing thought, but whatever), and his brother is directly in the room across from him, so it can’t be him. If Feliciano wanted to bother him in the middle of the night, he’d burst in his room and jump on him instead. Clearly, this was an important call.

So Lovino puts the phone to his ear and mumbles a somewhat coherent, “What the fuck do you want?” and hopes it’s not one of his politicians.

“Be my son.”

…Okay.

Lovino sits up and blinks at his phone. Maybe it’s because it’s 2am and the delirium of having his sleep interrupted is fucking with his head. Maybe his eyes are still adjusting because the caller ID surely does not say Spanish Bastard and it’s surely not Spain who is calling him at 2am asking him this.

“What?” is all he says, too stunned for anything more.

“Haven’t you seen what people are saying?” Before Lovino can answer that no, he hasn’t, because why would he care about what people are saying about Spain when he would much rather see what people are saying about him and his brother, Spain continues. “Everyone’s mad at me because I tried to take over a continent. But England tried that too, and no one’s mad at him, because he’s the perfect little family man with a loving partner and children and everything!”

“I don’t think that’s strictly true,” Lovino says and shit, when did he become the reasonable one here? “Everyone’s mad at everyone, including England. Get over it.”

“Okay, yes, but you can’t deny England gets extra good PR from all of that.”

“Maybe,” Lovino says absently, because he hadn’t actually realised that was why England was getting it slightly easier. If it was the family dynamic helping him out, maybe that’s why people took so easily to him and Feliciano… “I don’t think that’ll work for you, though. Practically every other one of your former colonies has openly said they don’t really talk to you anymore, so won’t it just look weird if all of a sudden I’m your closest son?”

Not that Lovino being Antonio’s son is remotely true in the slightest. He lived in his house, he did his chores, and he was forced to look up to Antonio as some sort of parental figure, but he knows it was all just a formality. He himself refused to, but he knows that the South Americans and Mexico and the Philippines called him papa once upon a time – though Spain certainly didn’t treat them as someone befitting of the title, and sure enough, they all scrapped the label as soon as they became independent. He even knows that a similar situation was once true for Alfred and Arthur, and they only just patched up their relationship in recent years.

Lovino does not see the same happening between Spain and any of his former colonies, him included, anytime soon. And it’s not like they all hold too much of a grudge – they’re Nations, it happens, and you learn to separate the Nation from the person. But even now, Antonio is tolerable at best. And for Lovino personally, the only real parental figure he has ever had will always be Grandpa Rome, and it’s strange to imagine anyone else coming after him.

“Well, I first thought if I should ask someone to be my fake partner,” Antonio continues. “But Emma threatened to cut my throat out and Gilbert–”

“You asked Gilbert?” Lovino asks, ignoring the strange feeling in his stomach at that concept.

“Yes, but he just laughed and hung up on me! How rude.”

Lovino, again, ignores the feeling of relief at hearing that.

“But whatever! You see what I mean, yes? You can help me with my PR by playing up the family dynamic.”

“Antonio–” Lovino manages through a laugh, because really, this whole thing was ridiculous. But Antonio carries on.

“–it will be good PR for both of us, you know. I saw what some people have been saying about you and your people – that is, the ones in your region specifically – and I know first hand how the Northern Italians feel about Southern Italians so if you really want to improve your reputation with the humans this might be the way!”

Lovino, all at once, feels the blood rush to his head, gripping his phone tight. He no longer finds this funny.

“Fuck you,” he says in the most earnest way he can. Spain, thankfully, is not that stupid as to not hear the genuine venom in the tone.

“Shit– Look, Lovi, I didn’t mean it in a bad way–“

“How the fuck did you mean it then? Because it seems to me like you’ve just implied I have a dodgy reputation because my people have a dodgy reputation.”

“That’s not what I–“

“Go the fuck back to sleep, Spain.”

With that sour note, Lovino slams his thumb down on the hang up button. Back in the silence of his bedroom, he can hear the sounds of his own angry, heavy breathing. He doesn’t know why exactly Spain’s words pissed him off so much – he knows he’s not the friendliest of people. But he also knows exactly what Spain is talking about, because he’s seen the same comments and posts and fucking reddit forums because he was curious, dammit, and curiosity always kills the cat.

All the posts and articles and even fucking news panels questioning why there are even two NPs for Italy in the first place and that it was surely redundant and how the southern one should’ve just disappeared by now, because of course the northern one should be the last remaining Italy, why shouldn’t he be? When his economy and people and culture were clearly so much better, and his NP was more likeable anyway, and the Southern Italians have always been a burden to the Northerners for as long as Italy as a concept has existed, nevermind the fact that his kingdoms were the largest of the Italian states before they unified, but what the hell would the humans who weren’t even around at the time know about that–

“Hello? Roma?”

Lovino blinks himself out of his spiral, looking back down to his phone. For a second, he thinks he’s accidentally called Spain back – but there’s only one person who calls him Roma, and it’s not him.

“Fuck, sorry, Gilbert.” Lovino rubs a hand over his face. He’s too tired and old for this. “I think I accidentally clicked on your number. Sorry,” he apologises again, hovering over the end call button.

“Are you good, though?” Gilbert suddenly says, which makes Lovino pause. “I… I could hear you for a bit. You were just, like, breathing really heavily. And why are you awake at this time anyway?”

“Just forget about it, okay?” Lovino tries to snap, but all the emotions and tiredness has dulled his usual harshness.

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Roma–”

“How does it feel to be East Germany?”

Prussia – Gilbert – finally falls silent. Lovino doesn’t know why he asked that. Or, he does, because he wants to know the answer but he hadn’t meant for it to be so abrupt. It’s been decades, nearly a century, really, since Gilbert’s nation, the entire reason for his existence in the first place, had been dissolved. Nobody understands why he’s still here. Austria had whispered, once, that it was only a matter of time. Lovino had punched him in the face when he heard that.

“I’m not… really East Germany.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Lovino swallows. “But isn’t it scary? Don’t you feel…”

“Useless? Unimportant? Irrelevant?”

Lovino lets out a small huff of amusement, even though it’s not very funny. He doesn’t know any other Nation – personally, anyway – that could come close to understanding what he feels like. “Yeah, that.”

“...Sometimes,” Gilbert admits quietly. “But I’ve made my peace with it. Luddy does his job well, so I can’t really complain, can I?”

Lovino thinks there’s a lot to complain about after losing your country, but what does he know.

“What’s brought this on? Are you okay?” Gilbert asks again.

Lovino chews his lip for a bit, thinking about how honest he should be. Then, he realises it’s also 2am over in Germany and that he should probably just wrap up the call quickly so they could both go right back to sleep.

“It’s nothing important,” Lovino finally says. “Spain just said something stupid and made me think. Forget it.”

“Antonio?” Gilbert says. “What did he say? He’s been real pissy ever since the reveal happened – even more than you. He’s annoyed about his image or whatever.”

Lovino snorts. “Yeah, I know. He asked me to be his son to help it.”

“His son?” Gilbert laughs. “God, he really is desperate. Did you know he asked if I wanted to be his pretend PR boyfriend?”

“Yes, he did mention that actually,” Lovino huffs in amusement. “I’m glad you didn’t decide to play along.”

“Are you now?” There’s a teasing lilt to Gilbert’s voice that makes Lovino’s face burn.

“Shut up, you know what I meant,” Lovino grumbles. “If the rest of us have to deal with what the humans have to say about us, he can fucking suck it up and deal with it too.”

“I thought they were generally positive with the two of you?” Gilbert asks curiously. “People were even coming up to you in person asking for photos, right? Like that baby photo.”

Lovino rolls his eyes. “Don’t remind me. And, yeah, they’re nice for the most part. Online, though…”

Online was where citizens from all regions of Italy could easily share their thoughts on him and Feliciano.

“Who cares about what those losers behind a screen think?”

“They’re still my citizens.” Lovino frowns. “Even if some don’t understand that we both represent the whole of Italy now and the Northerners don’t like to claim me as their own because I’m a terrone–”

“A what?” Gilbert interrupts at the unfamiliar word. Lovino shakes his head, forgetting Gilbert can’t see him.

“Whatever, doesn’t matter. I’m being dramatic. People have always thought this and will continue to think this. Who cares what people think, right?”

There’s another dip in their conversation, probably as Gilbert considers Lovino’s words. He doesn’t expect Gilbert to understand exactly, but he knows he’s visited enough places in Italy and lived long enough to get the gist.

“...I think you should maybe stop looking at what people are saying online,” Gilbert finally says. “It’s like you said: people will always think things. People will think even more things now that they know of our existence, no matter what we say or do. All we can do is keep living.”

Lovino hums absently. It’s too late to be thinking about all of this, let alone with someone he knows has a lot more on his plate than Lovino’s silly insecurities.

“Or maybe I should just sleep. It’s too late for these topics,” he says. “Sorry to bother you again, Gilbert.”

“Stop apologising. It’s not like you,” Gilbert says. “You know you’re never a bother with me, right? You can call or message me at anytime. Anyone would be honoured to hear my awesome words of wisdom.”

Lovino’s lips do twitch at that. “I pray for anyone who has followed your awesome words of wisdom,” he lightly mocks.

“Hey!” Gilbert laughs. “It worked with you, right?”

Lovino pauses. He does feel slightly better, but…

Gilbert’s right. He does need to stop looking online. Or, better yet, disconnect altogether.

“You think too much of yourself, bastard,” is what he says instead.

Gilbert snorts. “Goodnight, Lovino.”

Lovino’s response is soft in a way that he will later blame on his sleepiness. “Goodnight, Gilbert.”

He hangs up, and the room is finally plunged into silence. The clock on his bedside blinks past 3am. But Lovino just sits there and thinks.

And thinks. And thinks.

Feliciano hums as he finishes up his and Lovi’s breakfast. He had felt like making something special, as a way of saying thanks to his brother for helping to cheer him up last night, so he’s making the pancake recipe Matthew had sent him a bit ago. His mind drifts off to how he and his brother are doing regarding the whole reveal, especially since this all started with a Canadian in the first place. It must be hard for them. He should check in on how he was doing–

Ah, except he had placed a restriction on himself this morning. He had declared to himself that he wouldn’t check his phone, or even keep it within reaching distance, as to not tempt himself with any doomscrolling or sadness because Ludwig wouldn’t message or call him! Because he knows his dear partner is extremely busy and he only hopes he’s taking care of himself. But he has his brother, like Feliciano has his, so everything should be fine!

But anyway, this brief phone detox was actually going quite well for him. Ludwig was always telling him he needed a break from his phone. Ludwig would be so proud of him if he knew Feliciano was willingly choosing to not use it. God, he misses him. He can’t wait to tell him about this!

But no matter. It’s only been an hour and a half since he’s woken up, and Feliciano truly believes he can go the rest of the day without even touching his–

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Feliciano jumps over the kitchen counter and scrambles to pick up his phone from the couch.

“Ciao! Ludwig?” he says as soon as he answers, panting from his impromptu parkour.

“Uh, sorry, Feli. Wrong German.”

“Oh,” Feliciano says, trying not to sound too disappointed. He likes Gilbert too! “Hi, Gilbert! What can I help you with?”

“It’s about, uh… your brother actually.” Gilbert sounds uncharacteristically nervous or unsure about something. Feliciano doesn’t think he’s really heard Gilbert like this. He gasps. Could it be…?

“Oh my god! Are you finally going to ask him out?!” Feliciano squeals, jumping up and down. “Because finally! Ludwig and I have been wondering when either one of you would finally stop being cowards and just–”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m doing,” Gilbert is quick to interrupt. “Wait, you and Ludwig say what?”

“Nothing,” Feliciano quickly says. “What is it about fratello, then?”

There’s a pause, and Feliciano silently prays that he hasn’t just ruined all chances of matchmaking his brother and boyfriend’s brother together, until finally Gilbert speaks again.

“I had a call with him last night,” he admits. Feliciano bites his lip from rushing into any conclusions. “He had just gotten off a call with Antonio and I think it really rattled him.”

Feliciano blinks in surprise. That certainly wasn’t what he was expecting. “What? How so?”

“I think… I think Antonio said something about his citizens. Lovino’s, I mean.”

“Southern Italians?” Feliciano may not be the brightest, but he has a sinking feeling where this is going.

What Lovino doesn’t know is that he’s seen the posts too – the jokes, the snide remarks, all making fun of or putting down Southern Italians in favour of lifting Northern Italians. The two of them have known for decades the “rivalry” between their northern and southern regions. They know that generally, it’s in good fun and it’s just regional banter. They also know that said banter can tiptoe into legitimate mean stereotyping and unfair prejudices. So it makes sense that, with the appearance of two physical embodiments of a Northern and Southern Italy, some citizens would highlight these differences even more.

Which Feliciano thinks is silly. At the end of the day, cultural and lingual and regional differences aside, they’re all Italian!

“Yeah. He wasn’t clear exactly on what Antonio said, but Lovino didn’t really sound like himself afterwards, so I was wondering…”

“You want me to check in on him?” Feliciano guesses, already making his way to his brother’s bedroom. There’s a small sigh of relief from the other end of the call.

“Yes, that. I’m sure he’s, you know, fine and awesome and all that. But…”

“No, no, it’s sweet! Lovino almost never wakes up at this time, though.” Feliciano reassures him before he knocks on the door. “Lovino! Your man is worried about you!”

He hears Gilbert splutter and he giggles. But the laughter fades away when there’s no response from the other side. Not even a grumbled Lovino telling him to shut the fuck up and let him sleep.

“Lovino?” he repeats again. He starts to open the door, suddenly feeling his heart beat faster as a pit of dread begins to form in his stomach.

The room is empty. Feliciano curses. That alone is enough to send Gilbert in a frenzy.

“What– Feliciano? What’s going on? Is he okay? What–”

“He’s not here,” Feliciano says, walking closer to the bedside table, to where a piece of paper is tucked underneath Lovino’s phone. “There’s a note.”

Veneziano,

I need time away for a little bit. From everything.

Don’t worry about me.

Romano

Feliciano sighs after he reads the short note out loud. “He’s gone somewhere south.”

“How do you know?” Gilbert asks, sounding more panicked than Feliciano feels.

“He’s my brother,” he says, already making his way to his bedroom and packing a bag. “I just know.”

“Do you know where though?”

Feliciano pauses. He returns to his brother’s room and starts searching through his wardrobe. Eventually, he doesn’t find the thing he was looking for – which is exactly what he had hoped for.

“He’s somewhere in Sicily,” he says. “He always brings this stupid-looking hat whenever he goes there, and nowhere else. The hat isn’t here.”

“...You’re smarter than people give you credit for, Feli.”

Feliciano, despite the situation, grins. “I know!” he chirps.

He continues packing as he reassures Gilbert he’ll find him and to not worry before hanging up.

But, again, Feliciano knows his brother. If he wants to be left alone, he’ll be left alone.

Still, though. Gilbert’s call with him last night, which he ended up describing to Feliciano in more detail, worries him. So maybe it wouldn’t hurt to at least check in on him. These are tough times for every Nation, afterall. Feliciano suddenly feels kind of silly for complaining about not seeing his boyfriend, not noticing just how much their citizens’ opinions meant to Lovino.

And so Feliciano finishes packing his bag, stores the breakfast he had made into a tupperware and leaves it in front of Sofia’s door with a small note, and sets off to find his silly, silly brother.