A/N: Characters do not belong to me. Enough said...
100 Themes Challenge- Theme #18- Rainbow
Fandom: APH
Pairing(s): Gertalia
"I thought I would find you here, Ludwig."
The tall, blonde German man turned around and found his auburn-haired Italian friend standing behind him. The Italian male was wearing a white button down long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up with a pair of khaki pants and shiny black leather loafers. In his right hand, the Italian man held a rainbow flag. The Italian man walked toward Ludwig and stood up on his toes, placing a gentle kiss on the German man's cheek. Ludwig smiled lightly.
"How long have you been watching the festivities?" asked Feliciano, standing beside Ludwig on the balcony of the blonde man's third floor apartment.
"Maybe a half an hour or so," replied Ludwig, "The excitement will not begin for at least another two hours."
Feliciano placed his rainbow flag in the back pocket of his khakis and leaned into Ludwig. Ludwig took Feliciano's hand and lightly rubbed the Italian's knuckles. This year marked the 46th year that Ludwig and Feliciano had been a couple in the eyes of the human world. When the German man's leaders decided to legalize same-sex activities between two men in the year 1969, Ludwig decided that it was the perfect opportunity to make sure that Feliciano was his for the rest of their lives. Although the Italians allowed such activities to happen between two men for much longer, the Germans were one of the first countries to allow same-sex unions. The day that is was announced that the German man's leaders were allowing civil unions between same-sex partners, Ludwig popped the question to Feliciano, who accepted the proposal in earnest and the two of them were granted their union that very same day.
"I hope that my country recognizes our union soon," whispered Feliciano, "I am tired of being considered your life-long partner in other countries but not in my homeland."
"Give it time, Feliciano," replied Ludwig, who leaned in and placed a kiss on Feliciano's forehead.
The Italian man laughed lightly.
"You never used to be this romantic, Ludwig," said the Italian, "I have noticed a change in you in the last 14 years."
"Tell anyone that I'm romantic, and I will have to force you to move back in with your brother in Rome," replied Ludwig, "According to Gilbert, I am still as coldhearted as I was before the Third Reich."
Feliciano kissed Ludwig chastely on the lips.
"I promise I won't tell a single soul, although I presume that some of them might know by now. You would have to be living in the middle of nowhere if you did not get the news of our union 14 years ago. Besides, I do not want everyone jealous because I was the one who broke that icy exterior."
Ludwig looked over at the festivities in the streets below before looking back at Feliciano.
"Let's go inside for a while," said the German man, "I think we have some business to take care of before we see the parade."
Feliciano smirked slightly and took Ludwig's hand, leading him into the apartment. The two of them were alone for the weekend because Gilbert decided to visit with Francis in Paris. The Italian led Ludwig into their bedroom and Ludwig closed the door behind them. Feliciano stood on his toes once more to kiss Ludwig on the cheek.
"Remember the first time that we made love to one another, Ludwig?" asked Feliciano, tracing his fingers over all of Ludwig's scars, the majority of them from the Third Reich and Hitler.
"Spring of 1945, late April," replied Ludwig, "The night before Hitler shot himself."
Ludwig rolled over onto his side and placed his arm around Feliciano.
"Since Gilbert is gone all weekend, can we do this again?" asked Feliciano, "I wouldn't mind doing it in every room of this apartment."
"I refuse to go into Gil's room," Ludwig replied, "Who know what he has holed up in that pigsty, although I will not object to your offer."
Feliciano laughed. He reached over the side of the bed and pulled his small rainbow flag out of his khakis. He waved it and handed it over to his lover, his everything.
"Here's to 14 years in civil matrimony, Ludwig," whispered Feliciano. Ludwig took the little rainbow flag and set it aside, placing a kiss on Feliciano's cheek.
"No, here's to 70 years together and many more to come, Liebling. Ich liebe dich."
"Ti amo, amore."
A/N: I wrote this for the month of June, which is known as LGBT Pride Month in the United States. I also wrote this for the 100 Themes Challenge. When I saw rainbow as one of the themes, I decided that a LGBT pride story would be a good one for the theme (which explains the little rainbow flag). Also, I am quite partial to the month of June because I myself am a gay woman (I fall under the transgender umbrella as genderfluid- this means that my gender identity falls in all sorts of places on the gender binary scale, although the majority of times, it falls in the middle or on the 'masculine' end of the scale even though I am biologically female. I don't remember dressing predominantly female for more than one day at a time since probably third or fourth grade, which was the early 90's for me- yeah, I am that old!).
A/N #2: I had to delete a part of this because it contained a huge lemon. If anyone wants to read it, I can provide a copy of the entire story, lemon included!