#idk antonio is oblivious but he can't discount everything

[thatsamericano]

Some Stuff with Antonio Moving Forward

Antonio is going to briefly suspect that Romerica might be mutual after Savino proposes the idea of letting Alfred take him to the cemetery to see his dead parents. (He doesn’t know Alfred will actually be going to talk to them with Vinny). This annual tradition is something only Antonio or Nonno Vargas have done for him before, so Antonio is astounded that Savino is letting someone outside the family take him to the cemetery. This ritual is so private for Savino that no one in the family openly talks about what Vinny does each year, even though they all know where he’s going and what he’s doing. (They talked about this ages ago when Savino was younger and agreed to just be extra nice to him on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day, and this generally extends into Santa Stefano too.) Including Alfred in this way shows a huge level of trust that makes the idea of them being just “best friends” a little less plausible for Antonio, but he’s not going to say anything, because as much as he wants to wait before talking to Alfred, he would really want to wait with Savino because of what he does on Christmas Eve. And he’s less sure about Savino’s possible feelings, because from his POV, Alfred has been showing more signs of having feelings for his son than the reverse (in part because Antonio has been thinking about this for the past 2 1/2 days and looking for signs in a way he wasn’t with Savino). Savino also made a very convincing case for why Alfred should be the one to take him this year (he never knew these people, so it’s less emotionally difficult for him than Antonio or his nonno, and Alfred is capable of helping him travel that distance if he gets some specific instructions about where to go and the number of the taxi company to call after Savino is done with his visit).

If Antonio hadn’t been having conflict with FrUK over their Romerica suspicions, he would have said something on the 23rd like “I have to take Savino to the cemetery to visit his parents and his grandmother tomorrow. This is something Savino needs to do every year, and the only way he can handle visiting them is if he does it on Christmas Eve. Savino is very sensitive about their deaths, especially his parents’, so please be as gentle with him as possible over the next few days and don’t say anything to him about this, even to express your sympathy.” But now, because of the conflict with them and the times he’s seen Savino arguing with FrUK because they’re acting suspicious of him (or the way he just went full Italian rage on Arthur in Alfred’s defense, which Antonio knew was about the suspicions too), Antonio is much less inclined to talk to his partners about the Christmas Eve ritual. He knows, based on how FrUK reacted to Alfred running off after Chiara, that there’s no way they’d be okay with Romerica going off alone together somewhere much further than Alfred went with Chiara even if they didn’t think something was going on between them. Antonio is more reluctant to let this happen that he would have been if the Chiara thing didn’t happen, because he doesn’t want to upset his partners, but he gives in because he’s also really reluctant to stop Savino from doing something he clearly wants in relation to visiting his dead parents and grandmother. 

In the Christmas Eve fight, I think Antonio might give more credence to the possibility the hickey was from Alfred in his own mind, but he’s so ticked off at Arthur for starting shit on Christmas Eve and upset that Savino is getting this conflict he doesn’t need that I don’t know how much he thinks about it consciously. He might also wonder on Christmas Day, because Savino’s expensive present for Alfred (along with Alfred’s expensive present for him) makes more sense if they’re in a relationship. But Antonio has resolved not to bring this up, and he’s still trying to figure out how to approach either of them (and with Savino, reluctant in case they really are “best friends” and talking with him exposes Alfred’s unrequited feelings). When the Vespa plot line happens, the story Alfred tells makes more sense than the idea of them being in a relationship, because Antonio knows Savino wouldn’t try to weasel a boyfriend into buying him an expensive present he can’t afford. (He’s incredibly confused by the fact Savino was being so irresponsible with his money, however, because up until now he was pretty good with managing it. None of Antonio’s ninos act like this with money, because they know their Nonno was relatively poor as a child and young adult, so they have a different attitude to money than most people who are as wealthy as they are. Antonio, like FrUK, didn’t even consider the possibility that Marcello was blackmailing them.) He also gets a very genuine vibe from Alfred when he talks to him after he confesses to being in love with Savino, so he’s inclined to believing Alfred’s story. Alfred was telling the truth to explain a lot of things Antonio didn’t understand and drawing on very real emotions to convincingly fake how he would feel if he believed Savino didn’t love him and saw him only as a friend/stepbrother.