We Wait Until Dawn (Human AU)

Prologue

Antonio paced the kitchen nervously, scratching the back of his hand as he thought. His anxious sigh hung frozen in the air as a chill crawled up his back.

Alright... I'm going to do it. I'm going to tell him tonight. It can't be that hard.

A bitter laugh escaped his lips as the Spaniard shook his head. Not hard? Even he laughed at himself for that. Telling someone you love them for the first time was extremely hard- well, in his case it was.

Sitting down on one of the table stools around, Antonio looked around the kitchen. Snow flew past the windows nearby as frost slowly crept along the window frame. The soft moonlight casted slightly haunting shadows outside from the slim pine trees that surrounded. Very faintly, an owl silhouette drifted over the window pane.

"Toni? What are you doing sitting by yourself?" A silky voice dipped in a thick French accent slowly made it to his ears as Antonio let out another sigh.

"Oh, hey Francis." The man said as the blonde haired Frenchman took the seat beside him. "I was just thinking of something."

Francis, one of Antonio's best friends, had come along with him and their group of friends to spend the night in Alfred's family's cabin. The Jones's always were very wealthy among the social classes. Alfred, being so adventurous and social, had invited all his friends to come along and stay the night here. So commenced his yearly overnight cabin stay with his friends: Feliciano and Romano Vargas, Francis Bonnefoy, Arthur Kirkland, Kiku Honda, Antonio Carriedo, Gilbert Beilschmidt, and his brother Matthew.

The cabin was pretty big so it fit everyone perfectly. Being three stories high with just a little bit over a dozen rooms, it was quite a hangout place. Alfred's friends would usually refer to it as 'the mansion' since it was so big and too large to be seen as a mere cabin. Around the cabin was an old mine and an abandoned sanatorium. Alfred's parents warned them to not explore the mines and whatever else was there around the cabin. They said it was too dangerous and they didn't know what was there. So, they obeyed. No one lived up in these mountains nor did anyone travel up here often. The only constant travels made were the ones Alfred and his friends did every year. So, to them, they thought of their part of the mountain all theirs and theirs alone.

At the moment, Alfred, Arthur, and Kiku were hanging out in the parlor and talking near the fireplace. Feliciano and Romano were unpacking their stuff in their rooms. Gilbert was already sleeping in his. Matthew was taking a bath in the bathroom.

"Thinking? Is there anything I can do that can help your thinking?" Francis questioned, reaching over to pour some wine into a cup. Yes, they all were underage still when it came to drinking, but that logic didn't matter to Francis. He was 20 and out of school so in his mind he didn't need to wait another year to drink.

Antonio bowed his head, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah... you know how Romano and I have been dating for two weeks now, right?" Francis nodded. "Well, I want to... I want to tell Romano that I love him."

The French male gasped and let out a little teasing laugh. "Mon Dieu, my little Spanish child really has fallen in love."

"Child? You're only a year older than me." Antonio cracked a tiny smile at that as Francis swung an arm around his friend.

"Listen," he said with a little sip of wine, "what you have to do is speak from your heart. Don't plan anything, don't stress over it. Just breathe and empty everything out before him. Let your heart do the talking and your mouth simply project the words. That's not too hard, non?"

This only earned another exasperated sigh from the Spaniard. "Yes, it is hard, Francis. You see, I'm not like you. I know how to woo ladies and gentlemen, yes. I'm flirtatious and all like you, but there's one thing I can't do that you can: say 'I love you'... I want to tell him but I fear that I may mess up. You know, I've never been so in love before... Romano has taken over my heart and I wish to express what he has taken in the best way possible."