The day before they had planned to send out the wedding invites, Germany legalised same sex marriage.

It would've been smart to ignore it. After all, they had finally, mercifully finished planning. Everything was set, and it was all perfect, so the logical thing to do would've been to go ahead with the plan to get married in England and write the whole thing off as unfortunate timing.

Lovino had been prepared to do just that, too. But Gilbert's face when he'd heard the news, his excitement as he'd burst into Lovino's art studio, phone in hand, had been enough. With a weary sigh, Lovino agreed to postpone the wedding, and change locations.

But first, he'd insisted, they needed a break. With Gilbert's ever-frequent trips to Berlin and Lovino spending every waking moment trying to arrange a wedding that was now not happening, they deserved a day off.

The daytrip had been Gilbert's idea. He'd been living with Lovino for a couple years now, and felt that he hadn't done nearly enough touristy things in Italy. For all that Lovino grumbled about tourists not having any appreciation for his country's culture and history, he did agree that maybe, Gilbert had a point. It wasn't like Lovino had any reason to go exploring Italy, he knew the country like the back of his hand. And since Lovino didn't have much use for travelling and sightseeing, Gilbert's opportunities to do either of those things had been severely limited.

Besides, Gilbert's trips to Berlin had been getting more and more frequent. Lovino would say he was worried about it, if he had any opportunity, but he'd come to the conclusion that Gilbert was avoiding talking about whatever he was doing there.

Today though, Lovino was pushing that out of his mind. The two of them were on his bike, Gilbert's arms around his waist, speeding down the highway.

Bracciano was just under two hours away from their home in Segni. A long enough drive that they could justify finding a place to stay overnight before heading home in the morning. Lovino knew the town well, from the castle to the lake, from the main streets to the back alleys. This was his country after all.

Lovino was almost disappointed when they arrived. He didn't get nearly enough chance to just jump on his bike and drive these days. There wasn't really a plan for the day, but as they'd approached the town Gilbert's eye had immediately been drawn to the castle.

"What do you want to see first?" Lovino asked, suspecting he already knew the answer.

"Is the castle open to the public?" Gilbert asked, staring longingly up at the structure.

That was their first stop sorted, then. It was a few minutes' ride outside of the town itself, and after paying particular attention to where he'd parked the bike, Lovino followed an excited Gilbert towards the structure.

Before they'd gotten together, Lovino never would've taken Gilbert for a history buff. It just seemed so…calm, in comparison to his wild tendencies. Even now, Lovino still caught himself being amazed at how the Prussian would become captivated in historical buildings, artwork, even books on the subject.

There were guided tours through the castle, but it wasn't like they needed one. It might have been a while since Lovino had been here, but he knew this place. It was one of the largest castles still standing in his country, and one of the best-maintained; just like the rest of his land, it was a part of him.

Gilbert was practically dragging Lovino along, the Italian's hand caught in a death grip as Gilbert tried to both savour the moment and take everything in all at once.

"It's so grand for such an old castle," Gilbert remarked. "You said it was built in the 15th century, ja?"

"Si, but most of the artwork is from later, the 16th century. It started off as a defensive tower, then they added on a residential structure for the lord of the region, and eventually it became a proper castle," Lovino explained.

Standing here, in the cool, stone hallways, Lovino could almost remember those days. Things had been so much simpler then. Sure, a lot of people had been trying to capture him, or invade his land, or straight up kill him, but it sure beat the hell out of modern politics.

Lovino finally managed to extract his hand from Gilbert's death grip as the albino pulled away to look at a particularly detailed painting. The Italian rubbed his wrist and leant against the wall nearby, idly watching the tour group passing through the corridor. The woman leading the tour smiled at Lovino as she passed, and he found himself smiling back despite himself. He listened to the facts she was spouting while the group was in earshot, and by the time they'd rounded the corner Gilbert was pulling Lovino in the opposite direction.

"Tell me something else about the castle," Gilbert said, lacing his fingers with Lovino's.

By the time Lovino felt he'd covered the entire history of the castle, it was getting well into the afternoon. Gilbert seemed to be finally satisfied, not that Lovino particularly minded having spent of long in the castle. Gilbert got to learn more about Italy, and Lovino got to watch Gilbert acting like an excited child. It was kind of adorable.

They did eventually leave, riding back into town to find somewhere to stay for the night. Lovino picked a small hotel he remembered to be nice before they headed off to wander through the town itself. There wasn't terribly much to do there, though Gilbert seemed content to stroll along and just take it all in.

"You hungry yet?" Lovino asked, when he noticed the sun beginning to sink towards the horizon. Even if Gilbert had been about to deny it, a grumble from his stomach gave him away, and he chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said. Lovino rolled his eyes.

"Come on, you haven't even seen the lake yet," Lovino said. "That's were all the best restaurants are."