Based on a headcanon of mine that Spain's original intention for Florida was as a vacation home for himself and Romano.

xxxxx

Spain was an old man.

He reflected on his age as he watched Romano gesticulating dramatically to illustrate his various frustrations.

He gave the somewhat rueful, knowing chuckle of a man that had seen too much and lived too long.

Romano didn't notice, too caught up in his own misfortunes. "Dammit, those guys are assholes," Romano eventually finished.

"Lo siento Roma. I'm sure that tomorrow will be better. Like Boss always says, no matter how bad today is, the sun will always rise tomorrow!"

Romano, as he was wont to do, made a dismissive noise and said, "You don't know that tomorrow will be better."

And Spain, as he was wont to do, gracefully admitted defeat. "You're right. I guess I don't."

The conversation fell away and Romano concentrated on peeling an orange with his fingernails. Spain sighed softly and turned to look out the kitchen window at the setting sun.

Romano was right, he didn't know that tomorrow would be better. And he was also right when he frequently criticized his ex-boss by saying he was stupid.

The thought brought a small smile to Spain's lips. He had observed so much change over his many years on this godforsaken earth but perhaps there were, as the old cliché went, some things that never changed.

He glanced over at his dear Romano, who was furiously hacking away at the pock-marked orange rind. It looked as though he were attempting to take his anger out on the uncooperative citrus fruit.

Romano had been a very angry child and highly prone to rage as a teenager. Now an adult, it seemed that the years had done little to lessen his ire.

"Romano, do you resent me?"

A soft thud came as the orange fell onto the kitchen table.

"What?"

"It's just that you've always seemed so unhappy. Is it my fault? Have I done you wrong?"

Romano, for his part, was taken aback but trying to play it cool. Spain never talked in this calm, sad voice. Spain never tried to get him to talk about his faults. Spain was boisterous and energetic. Spain tried to take Romano's mind off of whatever happened to be infuriating him.

Romano tried in earnest to recall his childhood. It was true that he had been unhappy for much of his life but if he was being completely honest, most of his discontent had nothing to do with Spain.

But how should he answer? If he said no, then Spain might get all sentimental and that would just be embarrassing. But if he said yes, then he would get that achy, guilty feeling he sometimes got when he lied to his former caretaker. It was a fine line Romano walked.

But before he had time to formulate a response, Spain was continuing.

"I've made so many mistakes. I was so foolish when we were young. I actually believed in things like a city of gold and a fountain of youth. That was how I ended up in America, in Florida. We were going to find gold and the secret of everlasting youth so that no one would have to get sick or die anymore." Spain got a faraway look in his eyes. "They didn't know that lasting youth is not something to be desired."

Romano watched Spain and was overwhelmed with the idea that perhaps he did not really know the man that sat across the small oak table from him. Was it even Spain there? He looked as though he may have been in Florida, so distant was he.

"The voyage was terrible but then, they all were back in those days. And when we finally arrived, it was as if the land was telling us, 'Leave, you don't belong here!' Grass that cut our legs, mites that lived in the moss we used for our bedding, the hurricane that destroyed our first settlement…"

"Why?" Romano asked, surprising even himself.

Spain's head snapped up, as if he was awakening from a trance.

"Why what?"

"Why did you stay? You must've known there was no gold and that fountain wasn't real so why didn't you just go home?"

Another rueful smile. "My boss was disappointed but he knew that France and England and the others were all trying to claim territory in the New World and it was important to stake a claim for the kingdom. That wasn't what I cared about though."

Spain paused, sighed like an old man, and turned his head back to the window.

"Ah Romano. All this time and you and I are still the same."

Romano didn't respond but he was unnerved by this new side of Spain. Why was he acting so weird all of a sudden?

Seemingly alright with conversing with himself, Spain said, "You're still angry and I'm still a fool. I still want to have peace in a world of hatred and greed and war. That's what Florida was. A place away from the world I knew where I could rest. A place for you and I."

Then he turned to look Romano in the eye and gave the most gruesome imitation of a real smile Romano had ever seen on Spain's face. "How would you have liked that, Roma? Our very own vacation home in Florida."

Romano could not understand why Spain was talking about this. The two of them were separated not long after Spain's colonization of the Americas and it would never have mattered whether or not Spain succeeded in his goal.

"I knew that our time together was coming to an end. I could feel it in my heart. I wanted a place for us to say goodbye. But, I suppose the road to hell is paved with good intentions, no?"

Because he was feeling confused and had a strange and frightening sensation growing in the pit of his stomach, Romano began to get irritated.

"What the hell is wrong with you? None of that shit matters anymore! It all happened when I was a kid."

Suddenly, Spain latched onto Romano's hands and his eyes gleamed and bored into his soul.

"You forget, I was a kid too. I was just a teenager. I didn't understand back then, oh but I understand now." No longer slow and calm, Spain's voice had taken on the desperate, high quality of a madman.

Romano tried to pull his hands away but Spain's grip was like iron.

"You were young but so was I. you were thirteen or fourteen in human age and I was around seventeen. Heh, just like Romeo and Juliet. Young and foolish and doomed from the start."

Finally, Romano had had enough. He wrenched his hands free from Spain's and clamped them down on Spain's shoulders.

"Callate! Stop it! Shut up about that stuff. We're not doomed. I came back, didn't I? I'm here now and so are you so you can just shut up."

It looked like Spain had come back to himself. He blinked rapidly and licked his lips.

"Perdon, Romano. I guess I got carried away."

Romano released his shoulders. "Yeah, whatever, just don't do it again."

Spain gave him a soft smile. "Do you know that I love you?"

Romano rolled his eyes. "Of course I do. You say it every fucking day."

And because this was as close to an echoing response as he would ever get from his angry young man, Spain smiled. It is far easier to be happy than it is to be sad.

Later that evening, as his body ached and writhed in the purest love and basest pleasure, Spain surrendered and exalted the fountain of youth as it splashed its infinity over him in sweet kisses down his neck.

xxxx

Historical Notes: Saw grass and chiggers which living in the Spanish Moss that they used to fill their sleeping mats were just some of the things the Spanish had to contend with when they came to Florida. Many people believe that St. Augustine was the first settlement in America. This was actually Pensacola, founded in 1559 by Tristan de Luna, though the original settlement here was destroyed by a hurricane. St. Augustine was the first permanent settlement.

As for the fountain of youth, the Spanish believed it was located in Florida because the Native Americans that lived there were much taller, stronger and healthier than the Europeans. Though there is no actual fountain of youth, it is believed that the water from the springs in the area, which contained nutrients and was far cleaner than what was available in Europe at the time, is what allowed the Natives to live comparatively longer lives. There is a park in St. Augustine where you can visit the spring and actually buy water that comes from it. I myself have been and the water smells like sulfur but tastes very good.

Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you enjoyed.