"Alright, so the dinner date failed. What're you gonna try now?"

"You just want to see me fail you damn Scot." England grumbled as he nursed a beer.

Scotland was right though, the date failed. The dinner itself went splendidly. He definitely had to give credit to Norway for attempting to get out of going to the dinner, unfortunately the other Nordics where around and pushed him to go. It was still nice. The three of them enjoyed their time together, and there wasn't even any spying from neither of their families!

The time was spent avoiding talking about work and focused more on their personal lives. England had gotten Norway to twitch a smile and Veneziano laugh when he told them about the shenanigans that his brothers had been pulling during their stay at his house.

Norway had gloated about getting Iceland to call him big brother a few times a day, and went on to describe the latest fight between Denmark and Sweden that had gotten blood spilt until Finland had put the two in their place to avoid any more damage or injuries to each other.

The thought of Finland betting the two Nordics had both Veneziano and England shivering.

When it was Veneziano's turn, he complained about Romano keeping him locked up. He wasn't allowed to go anywhere unless he got permission from his brother or the people he wanted to go see came and got him, otherwise Romano would be there and making everything awkward. He did it to Germany and Japan last week; Veneziano had stated with a pout.

The fact shocked the two nations, neither having it pass through their minds that Romano would go as far as keeping his brother inside and apparently threatening those he would be around.

The topic of conversation had thankfully changed into much lighter tones for the rest of the evening.

A solid smack to the cranium brought England back to the present as he turned to glare at Scotland who just raised a brow at him, "Pay attention. We still gotta figure out what'cha gonna do next."

"And what bright ideas do you have?" England grunted as he crossed his arms.

"Why not invite him to lunch or tea?" Three pairs of eyes blinked and turned to stare at Wales who fidgeted under their gazes.

"Whaaaaaaat?"

"Brilliant idea, I'll go give him a call now."

With that the nation turned and headed inside to give a call.

Once he was on the phone and listening to the ringing, he started to have second thoughts. What if Romano answered and said no? What if he already made plans?

Shaking his head, England took a breath; he was just over reacting is all.

The phone on the other line being answered kept him from going deeper into his thoughts.

"The hell you want bastard."

And of course it had to be the Southern half that answered.

"Hello to you to Romano. May I speak to Veneziano please?"

A grunt had been his answer to the greeting, now he waited in silence for an answer to his question. He contemplated hanging up as the silence dragged on and was just about to set down the phone when noise started up on the other end.

"Hello?" A smile twitched at England's lips as he heard the breathy voice of Veneziano travel through the speaker.

"Hello Veneziano."

"England!" Said nation flinched at the sudden squeal, causing him to move the phone away until the noise died down enough to bring it back.

"Would you like to come over for tea?" England blurted out quickly, his face burning red. Sure he had to speak before the Italian did, otherwise who knew how long it would take for him to talk and by then he would have chickened out. It was better to get it done quickly.

A soft "Ve~" sounded through the phone before a light laugh followed up and the quieter tone of Veneziano's voice was a relief from the loud noise earlier, "Sounds fun~ When is it?"

"Would tomorrow work?"

The anticipation of this entire call was wracking his nerves something fierce. It would take an entire kettle of Earl Gray before they calmed and he could do any work.

The low Italian chatter on the other end had England shuffling his feet as he listened to the differences between the two halfs as they spoke to each other. The anger he could here in Romano's voice already had him thinking those plans were shot and he was preparing himself to be let down.

"Sorry about that~ Romano says it's okay~!"

"P-pardon?" England blinked, thinking for sure he was going to be let down because Romano, but once again the Southern halfs' acceptance short-circuited his brain.

"Romano says it's okay to go over! See you around noon England~"

The nation barely felt the phone being removed from his slackened grip after having stood there for a good few minutes listening to the dial tone with a slack jaw.

"He said yes."


The following day left England jittery. He had gone about setting everything up and making very much edible scones thank you very much. Of course, his brothers stayed to make sure he didn't overdo it and didn't leave the house until Veneziano was due to arrive within half an hour.

It was 11:50 on the dot when the cheerful voice of the Northern half sounded at the front of his home.

"I'm out back!" England called as he finished setting down the plate of scones and everything for the tea.

He had luckily just set down the kettle when a body collided with his.

"England~! It's great to see you again~"

"Pleasure seeing you again as well, come, tea's ready." England chuckled as he helped Veneziano sit.

The two nations spent the afternoon drinking tea and eating scones, England beaming at the Italians compliments of his scones. They also filled some of the silence with small talk about daily happenings; the Northern half even getting England to make rude comments about some of the other nations as he did the same.

The afternoon ended on a good note, promises being made to have tea together again at another time.

England was shocked once again when Veneziano leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek, his own face darkened by a blush before he quickly said good-bye and rushed away.

Still trying to process what just happened, England waved as he watched Veneziano hop into his brothers' car and drive off.

A few minutes more passed before he was awoken from his daze by his brothers showing up again, Ireland singing some drunken Irish song, even though it was obvious he wasn't drunk.

"And that's strike two!" Wales crooned as he twirled around England. Said nation just groaned and slammed his head into the nearest object, which just happened to be a wall.