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spamanosecretsanta · 6 years

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Fall For You

from: Everett ( @starofinsomnia )

to: Megan ( @bad-friend-trios )

Happy Holidays! I hope you enjoy it!

The bell above the door rings, signalling the entrance of a new customer. Antonio sets down the bouquet he was working on, smiling as he dries his hands. “Welcome! Is there anything I can do for you?” he asks, eyeing the handsome man.

Lovino looks up from the flowers he was admiring, blushing slightly at being caught like that. “I’m opening up a cafe across the street and I want flowers at every table. I would like each bouquet to be unique, and wondered if I might get a quote on how much. Your shop certainly has the most beautiful flowers of any florist I’ve visited today,” he says, looking back towards the flowers. He gently rubs his fingers over some rose petals, smiling slightly. “Very soft,” he whispers.

Antonio nods a little at that. “Alright! I can definitely do that. If you could give me an idea of what you’re looking for, I could have a quote ready for you in 15 minutes,” he says, smiling brightly. “If you decide to go with me, anything longer than me providing a weeks worth of flowers will require paperwork, so that I can set up reminders and a scheduled delivery,” Antonio explains. “Come come, we can sit in the back and you can look over some other centrepieces that I’ve had people commission from me in the past. Most of the restaurants that I cater flowers to still use me.”

“Sounds like you’re boasting Mr…what did you say your name was, any ways? Whatever, if you’re as good as you think you are, then I’ll probably pick you. As long as it’s not like insanely expensive, cause I’m just starting and I don’t make that kind of dough,” Lovino says, smiling a little at his own pun. His heart flutters when Antonio laughs at his pun as well, and very briefly he’s surprised at himself. Usually he can keep his cool around new guys, but he feels the urge to ask this one to coffee.

Antonio pulls out a chair for him and smiles softly. “You’re really a funny guy! My name is Antonio, but my friends call me Toni! I don’t think I caught your name either, but if we’re going to be doing business together, I think that’s probably important,” he says, handing over the binder of arrangements he’s provided for restaurants before.

Lovino takes it and nods. “My name is Lovino. How much do you think delivery would be, if I’m right across the street?” he asks, flipping through a few options. He admires a few of the smaller arrangements, thinking they’d look nice. “I like this one. It’s small so it’s not going to take up much space but it’s still lovely.” He hums softly. “So I know first time will be more expensive, because I’m buying the vases, but I’d like a quote for after that.” He fidgets a little with the paper. “And delivery expenses?”

Antonio hums softly. “Well, I’ll waive delivery expenses since you’re so close. I’ll just bring them over in the morning,” he says with a soft smile. “How many arrangements are you looking for? This one is roughly $30 each first time, then about $20 every time after.” He listens to the number of tables then gives him a rough estimate for how much it’ll be normally. He smiles when Lovino says that he’ll go with him.

Once all the paperwork is signed, Antonio makes a sample arrangement to send with him. “Free of charge,” he says, eyes sparkling as he hands it over to Lovino. “Here’s my number. If you ever need anything, help settling in, anything, go ahead and give me a call,” he says, winking as he hands over the paper.

Lovino blushes darkly at that and takes it, nodding. “Alright. Thanks. See you next Monday?” he asks, heading towards the door. “Don’t be late, I want to open my doors early.” He waves over his shoulder before finally leaving.

Antonio smiles softly after Lovino is gone, happy to have a new customer but more thrilled that he’s so cute and now a regular. He texts Francis and Gilbert that he thinks he found a guy that he wants to flirt with, then gets back to work on what he was doing before Lovino came in.

The wait til Monday is nearly agonizing for Antonio, as he’s anxious to see Lovino again. He heads into work earlier than he ever has before and gathers the flowers that Lovino ordered, heading over to his cafe. He knocks on the door, smiling when he sees his new friend through the glass. “Good morning, Lovino!” he calls, waving at him. He picks up the box of flowers and walks in.

Lovino nods at him, smiling back. “Good morning,” he says, regarding the cheerful man. “You’re upbeat for this early in the fucking morning. I made you a coffee. On the house for agreeing to just deliver them yourself.” He places a mug on the table and watches as Antonio starts to set vases on each table, tying a decorative ribbon around each.

Antonio glances up at him when he says that, smiling brightly. “Thanks! It’s no big deal, really. You’re right here,” he says, starting to put roses in each vase. He comes around with more flowers, creating beautiful miniature bouquets on every table. “There we go, all done,” he says. He smiles and finally picks up the coffee, taking a sip. “Oh, that’s fantastic, this is the best coffee I’ve ever had.” He smiles softly, then looks at the time. “I’ve got a few minutes before I have to open up shop, is it okay if I stay and chat?”

Lovino hums in thought, knocking on the counter for a moment. “Yeah, whatever. You can stay for a little bit. I’m planning on opening soon and I have some things left to do. You can talk to me if you come over here.” He waves Antonio over to where the counter opens, then brings him into the back where he starts to finish up some last minute preparations.

Antonio watches him, finishing the cup of coffee. “What do you like to do? I mean, I figure you like to bake and make coffee, but outside of work. What is it that makes Lovino happy?” he asks. He smiles at Lovino when he gives him a weird look.

“Well…I haven’t had much time to do anything recently honestly, what with having to work so hard on opening this place, but I like to draw I guess.” Lovino shrugs a little bit, then goes back to cleaning a few more mugs. “I sketched up this place a while ago. But I always did prefer to draw people. It’s whatever. What about you? You don’t get to be nosy without telling me something about yourself too.”

Antonio smiles. “Wow, that sounds really cool. You should draw me sometime,” he says excitedly. He laughs at the second part and rolls his eyes. “It’s not being nosy, it’s getting to know you. Well, I guess I like to write. Poetry, song lyrics. And I play guitar. Maybe sometime I could show you,” he says, winking. “You have my phone number still right? Give me a call and I’ll show you sometime.”

Lovino rolls his eyes. “You’re incorrigible, Antonio. Maybe I will, then. Or maybe I’ll just drop by your flower shop with some coffee for you,” he says, looking back to him. “Maybe sometime I could listen to you play for the flowers. The reviews on your shop said you do that sometimes.”

Antonio nods. “Yeah, I do. It helps the flowers flourish and be happy. I need the flowers to be happy to make money,” he says, laughing softly. “Maybe you should have an open mic night, I could show off to you and see how it looks to have you as an adoring fan,” he teases. He laughs when Lovino blushes and shoots him a slight glare. “Just kidding, just kidding, you’re very pent up, Lovi.”

“Whatever. I’m gonna open in a few, so just leave when you’re done, alright?” he asks. Lovino sets the cups on a tray and brings them to the front, setting them beside a coffee machine.

Antonio smiles and leaves a few moments later, making sure to set his cup in the sink. He leaves the cafe and heads to his own shop, calling Francis as soon as he’s alone. “Franny you will never guess what happened today. I went to the cafe to set up Lovino’s flowers and I think he might have been flirting back with me. He wants to hear me play.”

Francis laughs into the phone. “You should play for him, then. To be young and in love is a precious gift. Do you need my help romancing Lovino?” he asks. “I’m a touch more refined than Gilbert, but he’s really good at making stupidly intricate plots if you’re looking for something like that.”

Antonio laughs softly, then rolls his eyes. “No no, I’m just going to play for him and see where it takes us. There’s no need for intricate plotting, Fran. I think that if I’m going to get a guy like him, I should just outright talk to him, y'know? The best thing to do is to be honest with your feelings. You told me that when I had that crush in high school.”

“Yes, Antonio, and you decided to go with Gilbert’s crazy idea about just leaving notes and the kid never figured out who you were, so I suppose I was right. Only someone who is French can speak the true language of love. Find out what kind of things he likes and do them with him, that’s the best way. And don’t listen to Gilbert’s advice.” Antonio thinks he can hear the smile in Francis’ voice as he says that last bit, and it makes him smile again.

“Alright, will do. Thanks, Fran, you’re the best.” He hangs up, humming to himself as he gets to work.

Antonio’s week is a blur, getting more business than he’s used to and having no time to himself. He nearly forgets about his promise to Lovino to play for him, until he’s walking into his shop sketchbook in hand.

“Hi, Lovi! I wasn’t expecting to see you today,” he says, finishing up with the customer he’s working with. He notices Lovino has his sketchbook with him. “Not open today?” he asks.

Lovino shakes his head. “Never on a Sunday,” he responds. He looks around at the flowers. “I’m here to listen to you play. You’re the one who incited me, so don’t go backing out on it now,” he says.

Antonio laughs softly. “I invited you? I didn’t mean today, but yes, I will most definitely play for the beautiful Lovino.” He grabs his guitar and pulls up two chairs, sitting down. He starts to play a song his mother taught to him, singing along softly. He watches Lovino while he plays, deciding he likes the peacefulness of his face as he draws. He plays as long as he can before he has to help another customer, but is right back afterwards.

“What are you drawing?” he asks, strumming slowly as he tries to lean over and look into his sketchbook. Lovino pulls it away protectively, and Antonio sits back with a smile. “It’s okay, I won’t look any more,” he assures. Art is the window into peoples souls, he wouldn’t look without permission. He closes his store early, playing to Lovino for a few more hours as he draws.

After Lovino leaves, Antonio is left with a slight longing. He wants Lovino to come back already, but he knows he can’t be selfish with his time. He walks home in a lovestruck stupor, smiling so wide it makes his cheeks ache. The way Lovino looked when he was drawing was absolutely beautiful, and he feels the need to pour his heart out. For the first time in a really long time, he feels inspired to write a song.

Antonio sits down in his window nook, setting his guitar in his lap. He grabs his notebook as well, starting to write what he thinks about Lovino so far. It’s shaping up to be a song about love at first sight, he notices. The words are spilling out of him faster than he can try to put music to it, eventually forcing him to set aside his guitar and let the words flow onto the paper. He smiles when the lyrics are done, then picks up his guitar. He starts to get frustrated putting them to music, though and turns in for the night.

Every Sunday Antonio closes his shop early and spends the afternoon playing to Lovino among the flowers, then goes home and writes another song to him. Every Monday he calls Francis to complain about how he can’t seem to get anywhere with Lovino despite constantly flirting with him. It was after several weeks of this happening that Francis decides he can’t listen to it any more. Eventually someone is going to have to make a move, either Lovino rejects Antonio so Gilbert and Francis can pick up the pieces or they get together. He’s sick of the waiting for Antonio to actually make a move, so it’s time for one of Gilbert crazy plans.

Francis knocks on Antonio’s door, smiling when his friend opens the door. “Long time no see, Toni,” he says, holding up a bottle of wine, while Gilbert holds up a case of beer behind him.

“We’re here to figure out how to get you and Lovino together!” Gilbert shouts, pushing past both of them into the warmth of Antonio’s apartment. Francis smiles at Antonio surprised but amused grin.

“You two are the best,” he says, closing and locking the door behind them. Many plots are made then scrapped, too ambitious, too extreme, too stupid. They seem to keep circling back to the obvious: just flat out tell him.

“You know, Toni, he probably just doesn’t realize you’re flirting with him, honestly. Telling him outright that you want to go out on a date with him would be the best option,” Francis says, sipping his cup of wine.

Antonio closes his eyes and leans on his shoulder. “But Franny, he seems so uninterested in me. What if I ask and he says no and it ruins all the progress we’ve made?” he asks. “We’re such good friends now, I don’t want to lose that,” he mumbles as he starts to drift off there, tired from the alcohol. Francis sighs and looks over at Gilbert.

“He likes him too much. I think that if Lovino rejects him he might break,” he says softly. Gilbert nods his agreement, finishing his bottle of beer.

“I’m going to use the bathroom, then we can come up with something to do about this.” He gets up and walks out of the room. A few minutes pass and Gilbert doesn’t come back, causing Francis to get up, hoping his friend didn’t pass out in the bathroom. He finds Gilbert rifling through some papers in Antonio’s room.

“Gil! What the hell are you doing?” he asks, voice a furious whisper. “What if Antonio wakes up and sees you going through his stuff?”

“Look at this! We don’t even need an elaborate plot, Antonio gave us the perfect stuff here,” he says, holding out some papers. Francis gives him an odd look before taking the papers. He reads over the first few, biting his lip.

“Wow. I always knew Antonio had a way with words, but these are beautiful. These are love letters to Lovino?” Francis asks, looking up at Gilbert. “I think I have the perfect idea. We take these and leave one a day for Lovino to read until they’re gone. We won’t sign them, though. Goodness know Antonio will recognize that they’re his and it’ll help him confess! It’s perfect and romantic.” Francis smiles at the idea, carefully tucking the letters into his shirt pocket. “Let’s go, we have things to do, Gil.”

They leave the house quietly, using the key under the mat to lock the door. A more detailed plan is made before being put into effect. The very first letter is tucked into an envelope and slipped under the door to the cafe that night, ready to be found by Lovino the next morning.

Antonio wakes up with a slight headache, wondering where his friends went. He sighs and gets up, turning off whatever movie was playing when he passed out then heads to his room to go back to bed properly. Shrill ringing wakes him up the next morning, pulling a groan from his lips. He digs through his blankets until he finds his phone.

“Hello?” he asks groggily, rubbing his eye. He perks up a little bit when he hears Lovino on the other end. “What a pleasant surprise, Lovi! I didn’t realize it was you, the wrong ring tone was playing.” He hums softly as he listens to Lovino for a few seconds. “Gotcha gotcha. You want me to meet you at the flower shop? Sounds great, see you in a few.” He hangs up, getting dressed before heading out.

When he gets to the shop, he sees Lovino standing outside with an envelope in his hand, he pauses. Antonio smiles at him, then opens the door. “You said you wanted to talk? Is something wrong?” he asks, leading him to the couch in the back. His smile falls when he sees the serious look on Lovino’s face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Lovino holds out the envelope. “I got this letter this morning. It’s kind of creepy, honestly, someone’s been paying way too much attention to me. I thought it was your handwriting so I thought I’d ask, but you wouldn’t send me such a weird letter, would you?”

Antonio’s eyebrows come together. “I haven’t sent you anything. I would have just called,” he says. He opens the letter and immediately recognizes the poetry he had written the first time they had their time together. His cheeks slowly redden as he reads. “No, definitely not mine,” he lies, holding it out to him again. “Do you want me to spend the day at your cafe to make sure there’s no one being creepy to you?” he asks.

“No you already close your shop Sunday afternoons for me, I don’t want to make you do that today. I just wanted to ask about this. See you later bastard.” Lovino waves to him before heading back to his little cafe.

Antonio steps into his own shop feeling dread pass through him. Lovino had thought the poetry he wrote was creepy, but even worse, he somehow ended up with the poetry. He bites his lip, sitting down behind the counter. He’s not as cheerful that day, too saddened by his conversation with Lovino to perk up.

Every day, it seems, Lovino gets another one of the sheets he wrote, until he finally has the most recent one. He brings the letters to Antonio’s shop again, heading inside with the little pile. Antonio is by the side window tuning his guitar when he walks in. “Hey, stupid, we need to talk.” He pulls a chair up beside him, flopping down. He flips through the papers. “I know these are yours. They’re written the way you talk, they’re in your handwriting. I was hoping you’d just tell me when I asked about it.” Lovino looks at Antonio, cheeks reddening. “You’re an idiot. A blind fucking bastard idiot, Antonio. I have feelings for you too. I don’t write it like you do, and slip it under your door, but I’ve been showing you for weeks.”

Antonio just stares at him with wide eyes for several long seconds. “I- You called it creepy!” he whines. “I didn’t want to be responsible if you thought it was creepy.” He pouts at Lovino, setting his guitar aside. “I wanted…to keep them to myself for a while longer. I had a surprise I was making for you to actually confess to you.”

Lovino just listens to him, then rolls his eyes. “Antonio you didn’t hear a word I just said, did you? I have feelings for you too, you big doofus. I am in love with the beautiful idiot who sets up my flowers every Monday and plays me music on Sundays.” He pulls out his sketchbook and shows Antonio the sketches he did. Antonio stares, admiring how beautiful the art is. “I loved drawing you while you played. It was why I never let you see them, though. I was afraid if you saw them you’d know. And I wasn’t ready for you to know yet.”

Antonio’s stunned gaze softens finally. “I am in love with the beautiful cafe owner who gives me free coffees to keep me in longer and listens to me play my guitar and inspires me. I love seeing you, I love when you come here, I love the way you smile and the way you bite your lip when you’re concentration. Sometimes it distracts me and I misplay the song but you always ignore it to let me keep my dignity.” He reaches out and gently touches Lovino’s cheek. “Can I kiss you?”

“I wasn’t ignoring it to let you keep your dignity, dork,” Lovino mumbles, leaning into his hand. “Yes, if you didn’t, I think I’d be pretty disappointed.” He leans in the rest of the way for their lips to touch. He finds he likes the way Antonio’s lips curl into a smile while they’re touching. Lovino pulls away first, blushing darkly. “Are we dating now?” he asks softly.

Antonio grins and nods. “Pretty sure we are, Lovi,” he whispers.

#spamano #hetalia #aph spain #aph romano #submission #gift #fanfic #spamano secret santa 2018

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