Talk About Them

We are married.

It really had taken too long for this to happen. Maybe this had all worked out so that Francis would have actually returned to be here for his wedding? Antonio did not like to think that if he invited the other while he was not in Hearth that he would not come, but that probably would have been the case. Did Francis being here mean that much?

To him, yes. Maybe even to Lovino. Here were Antonio's best friends after all and Lovino getting along with them was always something he had hoped for. Though that fell lower on his list of priorities than the subject of Lovino in general.

They were right, Lovino and Gilbert. Lovino had always been his. Antonio supposed the lack of 'I'm breaking up with you's from here on out would still be a relief to him. Along with every single word that Lovino said to him up there. Not just to him, but to everyone, even if Antonio barely even remembered where anyone else was. He had even made up the seating chart and he no longer remembered!

It did not matter.

"Damn... Antonio, we have a reception to attend. So as much as I like you all over me... take five, would you?"

"I can't help it~!" Antonio responded, stroking back Lovino's hair. "It was everything I could do not to just start kissing you during your vows!"

"I appreciate the restraint," Lovino smirked, rubbing his thumb over the back of Antonio's hand. "But I'm starving."

Now that he thought about it, he was hungry too. Not that he had not eaten beforehand... Antonio had not been hungry in the morning so Francis had shoved a few things down his throat. Which he was grateful for after the fact, but the energy gained then had all been burned off by now.

It took a total of five minutes, in which Antonio heard nothing but congratulations, before they returned into the hall, it now having been transformed to a place they could eat – tables set up and the food wheeled out. The cake was out and it looked magnificent.

"It's wonderful!" Antonio made certain to tell Roderich, who was frowning at it.

"Thank you..." he responded with a small smile.

Lovino pulled him toward their seats, where Antonio tried to pull him into his lap, but Lovino resolutely ended up in his own chair. Francis leaned toward him on his other side.

"Antonio," the Frenchman said insistently, right before he hiccuped. Antonio stared at him.

"You've drunk already?"

"N–hic–no!" Francis shook his head. Lovino leaned over Antonio, practically in his lap as he stared up at Francis. Francis shut his mouth tightly, but it did not stop the sound which escaped him.

"You... have... hiccups," Lovino said.

Francis nodded.

The laughter which escaped Lovino was not loud. It was sort of a quiet, but calculated, chuckling. Antonio stared down at him as Lovino settled himself back into his chair. Then Antonio looked back at Francis.

"He caught my hiccups~" Lovino said in a sing-song voice.

"You don't –hic– catch hiccups," Francis informed him.

"Hiccups won't kill you," Antonio responded, to which Francis nodded to. Lovino fidgeted next to him.

"I just thought I would –hic– inform you of such before I began my speech –hic– mi amigo. For your information."

There were worse things, Antonio supposed. Francis was the epitome of an excellent public speaker. He would find some way of working his hiccups into the speech. As long as Francis did not mention the parallels to what had happened earlier... Antonio would prefer to keep that out of general knowledge, if at least for today.

"We can hold it off, wait for them to go away. Elizaveta could give hers first," he suggested, for Francis' benefit. The noise that escaped Lovino meant his husband was less than pleased with the idea of another order, for whatever reason. Francis covered his mouth as another hiccup escaped him, then shook his head.

"I'll just –hic– soldier onward. Hiccups are no big deal."

The animosity which arose from Lovino's aura was near instantaneous. Antonio placed his hand on Lovino's thigh, rubbing it gently to keep him from speaking – or at the very least from getting up. "We're grateful~!" he said happily, glad to note how his own reaction was diffusing Lovino's.

He was an expert in this by now.

Diverting his eyes away, Lovino sighed, placing his hand over Antonio's hand. "Yeah..."

"You said you were hungry!" Antonio said to him, nuzzling his ear with his nose, reaching forward for his fork.

"You try and feed me like a child and that fork will go up your nose." Antonio kissed him, once more removing any air of irritation. He caught Elizaveta's eye, who appeared to decide to take it on herself to quiet the congregation.

Or leave it up to Vash, who shot his gun, silencing everyone instantly. Maddox fell from the ceiling.

"Nice try. It was a blank shot into the ground," Vash responded, not phased.

"Get up!" Arthur scowled, pulling Maddox into a chair.

"Tell my camera... I love it..."

Maddox was ignored.

"Ah... thank you," Francis smiled over toward the Constable, covering his mouth once more as he hiccuped again. "As you can all tell –hic– I am currently afflicted with –hic–... well, that says it well. So I'll make this brief."

"Hopefully not too brief," Lovino muttered to him, though whether he was concerned that it would be a sentence long or whether he simply wanted Francis to have to suffer through his hiccups Antonio was not certain. So he just smiled and waited for it.

"When I first moved to Hearth –hic– Antonio was the first person I met. I remember thinking –hic– thinking that he was a complete idiot. Sometimes I still think that..." Antonio might have frowned at that except they had talked about this earlier. Plus Lovino seemed to think it was funny. "But it did not take me long to know that –hic– out of everyone I would ever meet, Antonio would be –hic– he would be the only person who would be able to find what made him happy –hic– find that and hold on to it without –hic– the drama the rest of us would have.

"Then what made him happy was Lovino –hic– and I was glad, because I realized I would have been slightly annoyed –hic– if he had managed to go without the drama the rest of us –hic– have been subjected to."

Lovino no longer seemed to think it funny, though Antonio caught right on to what Francis meant and was rather glad for it. After all, he did not think he would like living without the drama that Lovino brought him – whether Lovino agreed or not.

"I am so happy for you both. You really do deserve each other –hic–, because I do not think anyone else could have complimented either of you two –hic– nearly as well. So Antonio, Lovino, here's to you both."

As soon as applause ended and Francis sat down and people's attention moved away, he downed his glass. Antonio patted him on the arm.

"Mil gracias, Francis."

"Pas de problème, Antonio," Francis cleared his throat right before he hiccuped again.

Marcus stood up then, which stopped Lovino and Feliciano from their current conversation which could be defined as bickering (at least from Lovino's end).

"As you all know," Marcus' voice boomed out before everyone had even realized he had taken the floor. "I've been married quite a bit. It just doesn't work out sometimes, though each woman has remained a friend since. Maybe this means I'm not a very good judge on these things. Very well."

He nodded a few times as though agreeing with himself. Lovino looked slightly worried.

"Ah hell, don't let him ruin this..." Lovino's whispered statement was nearly a whine. Antonio could not conceive of a way Marcus could, or would, ruin this, but patted him on the knee nevertheless.

"But everyone who has had anything to say so far today has said this. Lovino and Antonio have been as good as permanent for a very long time. If I was so bold, I would say from when they first met. I am so bold," Marcus rose up his glass toward them. "Lovino, I'm proud of you. I've always been proud of you, but I want you to know it especially now. Every member of my family makes me glad to be alive still and there is no possible way I could love anyone more than I love you right now."

Lovino looked, for lack of a better word, completely stunned. Antonio could not have asked for Marcus to say anything better. Maybe sooner, because of everything Lovino used to think, but nothing better.

"Antonio," Marcus turned his eye on to him and Antonio met that gaze. "Keep being the man you are now, as you are the man I have to contend with when it comes to really important matters in my grandson's life and I wouldn't hesitate to throw you to the lions," (Muhammad and Sadiq had both begun to snicker, while Yao was hissing at Muhammad to shut up), "if you were anything else than what you are."

Antonio nodded with a smile. Marcus moved to sit down before he thought of something and remained standing.

"More than anything... I want you to know Julia would be very proud of you. Be it the death of me if she is not smiling down on you from Heaven right now."

The shock of hearing his abuela's name threw Antonio into a blank state of mind. One that he was quickly drawn out of by Lovino taking his hand under the table. He squeezed Lovino's hand tightly and it was that grip which brought him back to normal.

You would be happy, abuela. You always wished me to be happy. I am. You would be happy.

"Thank you," he said.

Marcus nodded, rose his glass toward them once again, then sat back down.


Notes:

Roderich is frowning because something does not look quite right with his cake. Not that it matters. Roderich is just really anal retentive with his cakes.

Maddox sure knows how to fall from high places. He is a cat. Except not really, because he is not super fond of Heracles. And if he was a cat, he would be. All cats are fond of Heracles. As proven with Anastasia.

Yes, I made Francis hiccup through his speech. I think I have officially made him suffer as much as I have made Ludwig suffer in Hearth. And considering how much I make Ludwig suffer in all of my stories, that is certainly a feat.

Marcus is plenty a good enough judge. He just has other reasons. Of which may become apparent later.

In other words, the second part to the Hearth Prequel- A Siren In Hong Kong is up. Wherein Yao gets rid of some crows. Link in my profile.