On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

Twelve drummers drumming

Eleven pipers piping

Ten lords-a-leaping

Nine ladys dancing

Eight maids-a-milking

Seven swan-a-swimming

Six geese-a-laying

Five golden rings

Four calling birds

Three French hens

Two turtle doves

And a partridge in a pear tree

Out, this was late. Too late. No human being has a reason to be up at this hour, religion or not. Stupid pope for making him and Veneziano stay up an unreasonable hour just to listen to him talk in Latin (which, believe it or not, both Romano and Veneziano had already mostly forgotten.) And most of the service was just listening, give or take the occasional hymnal break. Oh, and can't forget that one break for communion. Honesty, those were the highlights of the night for Romano and Veneziano.

At one point, the two started going through one of the hymnals and picked out their favourite songs just to pass the time. The worst part was that they had to sit in the front row, so they couldn't draw or make jokes.

How. Fucking. Fun.

Oh the wonders of being the personification of one of the most catholic countries in the world.

After talking with the pope for at least half an hour, Romano was finally able to put on his coat and leave. Veneziano had taken off right after the service ended and said Merry Christmas to Romano, (lucky little bastard) leaving Romano all by himself with the pope, who wanted to meet him and thank him for showing Italy respect.

In short, in was a 'ya done gud, son' type speech.

So now Romano's Christmas was complete.

Approaching the door, Romano could swear he could hear the sound of drumming. But it was almost 1:30 in the morning, there was no way anyone was still up. God, how many times has he told the pope's that midnight mass was too late? Way too many fucking times! Clearly, Romano was hallucinating the drumming sounds.

There was clearly no other option.

Opening the front doors to the church, Romano froze.

In front of the church, a line of 12 marching drummers stood, completely straight, marching completely in step, drumming a cadence with snaring trills, loud bass drum beats, and dramatic cymbal crashes.

And standing right in the middle, just a few feet in front of them, was Spain, smiling nervously.

In a complete daze, Romano started walking towards Spain, his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide with confusion and awe. In just a whisper that Spain would of missed if he wasn't so attuned to Romano, "…Antonio….what…how…?"

His smile brightening just a little, Spain took a few steps forward and embraced Romano. Kissing him lightly, Spain took a step backwards and kneeled down on one knee. Instantly, Romano's mouth just dropped to the ground, not even caring about his dignity. "Antonio…"

"Lovino Romano Vargas, for the many centuries that I've known you, you've always been surprising me. Starting as a little kid, messing up my house and hiding my stuff, I thought I finally got you down, and then you just…blew me away. I can't even begin to tell you how much I hated and loved that. I was so used to everyone doing what I wanted and what I said, and then you showed up and just threw all my rules out the window….

"And then…the day you came to me and told me that you would be leaving for Italy, and that you and Veneziano were declaring your independence… I didn't know what to do. I had this whole mindset that you would always be right next to me, forever. It never occurred to me that you would want more than what I could give you. And I didn't want to hold you back, I couldn't hold you back. Somehow, you wormed your way into my heart and I just…I couldn't say no to you. You turned the most powerful country in the world into a pile of mushy, corny goo… and you weren't even trying.

"And then you left… I didn't know what to do with myself. Everyone else had left, so it was just me in my huge and empty house. Every time I would walk past your room, I would become so sad and… I just never really knew the real reason why. I just thought I was sad because I missed having a house full of people. But then you came to visit more and more, I realised that I didn't just miss you, I missed having you around, messing everything up, making me do things for you. I missed everything that had to do with you. More importantly, I missed you.

"Which was why I was so nervous when I asked you out. I was sweating from everywhere you could imagine because I was so sure that you would reject me. You always needed someone around, but you didn't want anyone to know that you needed someone around. You always had a way with words that just took a whole new level of thinking to understand. That's one of the reasons why I love you so much. You're not like all the others I know. You are just so much your own person, and I can't even begin to tell you how much I love that. Everyday is like a new adventure because everyday, I get to learn something new about you.

"Which is why…" Spain looked deeply into Romano's eyes, breathing deeply and trying to keep his nervousness for making him pass out. "Lovino Romano Vargas…" Reaching into his pocket, not breaking eye contact, Spain pulled out a velvet black box from his pocket.

"Will you marry me?"

Romano stood completely frozen. 'Oh my fucking God…Oh my fucking God…Oh my fucking God…' He had no idea what the purpose of his mouth was at the moment. Words? What are those? Right now, Romano just didn't know how to form words. Which he stood there doing for at least a minute. He wasn't even aware of the tears cascading down his cheeks.

Which caused Spain to get the wrong feeling and have a feeling of dread come over him. 'Oh no, was this a mistake? Does he not want this? I am going to fast?' Standing up slowly, Spain was shaking all over. He did make a mistake, Romano didn't want this, he's probably trying not to run away just to avoid hurting his feeling.

"L-Lovino…? I-I'm sorry… I didn't realise… I t-though we were…" Spain started to stutter, trying so hard not to start crying. He was so ready to take the next step with Romano that he just assumed that Romano was too. And he was trying so hard not to reach out and wipe away Romano's tears. He wasn't sure if Romano would shy away or welcome the gesture.

But sensing Spain's growing fear and feeling of rejection, Romano broke out of his stupor and tackled Spain to the ground. Kissing him passionately, which quickly turned into a heated make-out session, Romano tried to explain to Spain just how he felt without words.

'*kiss* You fucking idiot! *kiss* Of course I love you! *kiss* Yes! Yes! *kiss* Why would you every think I wouldn't say yes?'

Breaking the kiss, Romano locked his gaze with Spain, "Sí! Te amo! Te amo, Antonio! Sí!"

Completely shocked, Spain just stared at Romano, his words not quiet making it to his brain yet. 'Wait, he said yes? Yes… what does…?' And slowly, Romano's confirmation settled into his head. 'He said yes… he said… yes…Yes. Oh my God he said yes.' "He said yes!" Wrapping his arms around Romano's waist tightly, Spain rolled over on top of Romano and tackled his lips with his own.

They both stayed there, laying in the snow on the early Christmas morning, lips locked, brand new fiancés, completely in love, and not giving a damn about the world around them. Everything was perfect and absolutely nothing could ruin this moment for Antonio Fernandez Carriedo and Lovino Romano Vargas.

Merry Christmas to all and to all, a good night