Italy skipped along the sidewalk, humming softly and clutching his little present – a bottle of wine and a bunch of roses. It was such a beautiful summer's day here, only sweetened by Germany asking him out to dinner again. And Austria and Hungary were going to drop by for a visit, too! Italy laughed with joy.
"Hiya, Luddy!" Italy waved cheerfully at his boyfriend across the street. Germany was walking his dogs, but looked up to give him a small smile and a wave. Italy jogged across the street to meet them, wrapping his arms around Ludwig's neck and giving him a quick kiss.
"How have you been?" Germany's voice was a pleasant rumble above the excited barking of the German shepards.
"Pretty good, except that I missed you! I spent some time with America and his boyfriend last month. Oh, and I saw Greece again! And did I ever tell you that one of his cats had babies? He gave me a kitten! He's all white and he has a little scar over one of his eyes."
"That's nice. Did you name him?"
"Yeah." Italy said. "I named him Gil."
Germany smiled. "I'm sure Prussia would approve," he said, taking Italy's hand and guiding him inside his house.
After Italy and Germany had kissed for a while, cuddled, tried to make dinner, and kissed some more, Austria and Hungary arrived. Greetings were exchanged, and they all sat down to dinner.
They chatted about insignificant things, Italy dominating ninety-percent of the conversation, until Hungary finally let out a small laugh.
"Sorry," she said, "but it's just like they say: some things never change. It just feels exactly like it did so many centuries ago."
Austria smiled too. "It's nice to see that our 'son' has grown up so well."
"Now we're the senile, bickering old couple. Your love is still beautiful and fresh!" Hungary giggled. Austria turned slightly pink.
"Wait, are you guys together again?" Italy asked.
Austria cleared his throat. "I-it was just a few dates."
"That's great, guys!" Italy grinned at them. They both averted their eyes somewhat bashfully.
"Its too bad Gilbert isn't here. I bet he'd think it was pretty awesome that we're all together again." Hungary sighed.
"Actually, about that…" Austria spoke up. "I was wondering if we could go visit the grave you two made for Prussia."
"The cornflowers are in bloom," Italy caught Germany murmur to himself.
He smiled. "That sounds like a great idea!"
Beside the old house, the four picked small bunches of blue flowers. Each stepped forward in turn to place the flowers next to the stone. It seemed to glow in the bright sunshine.
As Italy stepped forward, he began to speak quietly.
"Prussia, I'm a little bit sad that you never told us who Germany actually was until you were dying. But…on the other hand, I got to fall in love with him again. And I don't feel guilty about loving two people anymore, because even though Germany is different than he used to be…I still love him. Just as much as I used to. So, thanks for that, Prussia."
"And I wish you were here, because every time someone says 'awesome' it makes me sad, because I'll never hear your voice say it again, and…and," Italy turned back to his friends.
"And we all miss you, Gilbert." Austria reached out an arm to Hungary, but she pushed it away. "But…I know we'll see you again. This isn't goodbye." She smiled, through tears, up at the sky. "We'll see you again someday."
"Even if you weren't my real big brother, you were always there for me," Germany said. "Thank you, Prussia."
"We had our bad days…but you were really a caring friend. Thank you." Austria took off his glasses and blinked rapidly at the ground.
Italy turned from the grave. "Let's go home now." Nobody could do anything but nod, and they walked without saying anything back to the car.
A breeze blew by Italy's ear. It seemed to whisper, Thank you. He shook his head and wiped away another tear beginning to form. Take care of Germany, please. Italy whirled around, and for a split second, Prussia smiled down at him and nodded. Then he was gone.