"How do I look?" Antonio asks somewhat nervously. Romano sets his cell down and looks up at him from his place on Antonio's bed.

"Well, I guess it will do." Romano smirks and returns his attention back to his phone.

"Roma! You have to tell me if I look ridiculous, I don't want to make a bad impression you know, are you sure this looks alright?"

Romano sighs. "Yes, idiot. You look perfectly fine."

"So...you think I look fine?" Antonio grins, raising an eyebrow. "And perfect?"

He starts laughing when Romano whips a pillow at him, he's so adorable!, and sidesteps it easily.

"Fuck you, asshole. You know that's not what I meant! You and that idiot brother of mine are always twisting my words around." Romano trails off, grumbling.

"I know, I know." Antonio says, throwing the pillow back at him and laughs again at Romano's surprised little yelp. "I don't think I'm blonde enough to be your type anyway."

Romano shoves the pillow into his face, muffling his speech. "Ugh. I have no idea what you're talking about, Toni. You should shut up though."

"You're using the pillow so I can't see that you're blushing, right?" Antonio walks over to his bed and tries to tug the pillow away, but Romano is really stubborn and strong when he wants to be. "Come on, Roma, let me see, let me see!" He sing-songs.

"Jesus! Fine." He lowers the pillow, his cheeks are indeed slightly red. "Happy now, jerkface?"

"Si! You don't have to worry though, Romano. Ludwig likes you too." He smiles, brightly and reassuringly in Romano's direction.

Romano sighs. "You don't know that."

"Yes, I do!" He sing-songs again, before going into serious mode. He knows Romano has problems with low self-esteem. "A little bird named Feli told me that Ludwig was asking about you. You know how he can't keep secrets. And Ludwig is his best friend and you're his brother. He wouldn't lie about this. You should ask him out! How can he say no to that face? Then if it works out with Mr. Blind Date Guy we can go on double dates! Or triple? Or whatever it's called after two couples."

Romano shakes his head, trying not to smile. "It's called a group date, moron. So Feli and Bella, me and...Ludwig, and you and your blind date?" He waits until Antonio nods and then continues. "I don't know if you'll be able to bring 'blind date guy' if you completely miss the first date. You're late you know."

Antonio glances at his cell, curses in Spanish, and hurriedly gathers up his stuff.

Romano stops him before he leaves. "Let me know how it goes. And seriously be careful. Text me if you need a fake emergency or something. You're an idiot and all, but I still don't want you to get hurt or anything."

"You're sweet, Romano." Antonio says, smiling widely, hand on the doorknob. "But, Bella says this guy is one of her best friends from work, I don't think she would introduce me to some sort of murderer, so you don't need to worry okay?"

"Whatever. Just...just text me anyway. If you're date goes really really well, I'll head out for a bit to give you two some alone time."

Antonio blushes, he wasn't really thinking about that, he was just nervous about meeting the guy first.

"Okay, I will, Romano. See you later." He waves and then turns back towards Romano as he's walking away. "Call Ludwig!"

Romano just flips him off and slams the door.

Antonio's still laughing as he gets in his car, but trails off after he starts it up. Without Romano to distract him, he can feel how nervous he is. He's fine being a little clumsy and silly in front of his friends, but he doesn't want to make a fool of himself in front of someone he doesn't know yet. And he's self-conscious about his lisp, his friends don't care about obviously, but he gets anxious about it in public, in front of strangers. He's still in the driveway, drumming his fingers nervously on the steering wheel and wondering if he should do this when he gets a text.

It's from Romano who just says: i know what you're thinking, dummy. and you'll regret it if you don't go. if you're worried about looking stupid, that's kind of who you are, no offense. but if this guy doesn't like you for that, then he can fuck off. plus it would be kind of cowardly of you to stand this poor guy up.

Antonio smiles, Romano's his best friend for a reason, he's really great with motivational speeches.

He gets two more messages from Romano.

The first says: hurry up if you're going.

The second is a gif from Spongebob of Patrick saying he's not a chicken and then Romano had typed below, he's clearly a chicken. don't be like this guy.

Well, Antonio thinks, it's blind date time.


"Romano?" Antonio calls out as he closes the front door behind him.

"In here!" Romano yells from the living room.

Antonio wanders in and collapses on the couch.

"That bad, huh? Wait. Let me get some popcorn and then you can tell me all about it." Romano says while throwing him the remote. "Don't put on anything sad though."

Antonio lazily looks up at Romano. "Hmm? It didn't go bad, Roma, it was really good! He's so cute!" He smiles dreamily and reaches for the remote.

"In that case," Romano says, snatching the remote up before Antonio can get it. "I'll take this back, but still tell me about this so-called 'amazing' date of yours. What's he like?"

"His name is Ivan. Isn't that a nice name? Ee-vahn. And he has this pretty accent, he's from Russia and he says he really likes my accent too." Antonio drifts off, clearly thinking about this Ivan guy.

"And? Come on, Toni, I need more than that."

"He's tall. He loves horror movies and he has a cat. He likes to garden. He grows flowers, mostly sunflowers because they're his favorite and tulips because his ex gave him some tulip bulbs once and he says they look beautiful next to the other plants. Oh, Roma, he grows tomatoes too!"

"I give him points for the tomatoes but, he brought up an ex? That's like breaking rule #1 of the dating rules."

"His ex is Bella's brother. He apologized for bringing it up, but I said it was fine since we're both friends with Bells, it would have come up anyway."

Romano laughs loudly. "Oh god, that's his ex? I guess the tulips should have tipped me off. This Ivan has pretty weird taste in guys."

"Hey!" Antonio puts a hand over his heart and gives Romano the most offended look he can muster which earns him a snort of laughter.

"You can't say you're not weird, Toni. I mean, our whole friend group is pretty fucking weird honestly."

"True. Francis and Gilbert can be a bit..." Antonio tries to think of the right word for his friends.

"Crazy." Romano finishes for him. "In a good way. For the most part. Will blind date Ivan fit in?"

Antonio thinks about it, Ivan does seem a little strange, but in an endearing way. He's only just met him, but he likes what he's seen so far. He's really easy to talk to, which is something Antonio needs. And he's friends with Bella, who is also a big weirdo albeit a weirdo with a great judgement of character.

"Yes, he will." Antonio decides and grabs his phone so he can thank Bella and maybe, possibly, for sure text Ivan.

Romano shrugs and puts on Project Runway while Toni plans his next date with Ivan.


Notes: Spain/Russia is one of my favorite pairings! It's really cute and I wish more people liked it. Oh, the woes of loving a rare pair. It's not the best because I'm not very good at writing Spain or Romano, but I hope with practice I'll get better. Title is from Steven Universe. Review if you'd like.