Welcome to Gaia! ::

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Rutilio had been managing to keep his cool on the surface so far, but his heart was beating at a frustrating pace and Georgia was taking too long to reach the door. Every second that ticked by made his chest tighten with insecurity over whether or not this really was a trap. He could make excuses or pretend he had also been leading the Georgian on up until this point, but the moment he had stepped out of his flirtatious comfort zone and into this realm of flowery bouquets and dinners and dating advice from France... it was like a point of no return had been crossed for Florida. He had never done anything like this for anyone no matter how great of a tourist partner they were. The closest thing to it had been to join or escort someone to a party as a mutually beneficial business arrangement or favor, but to actually go to a private dinner like this was practically like a commitment to him. Or at least the closest he had ever come to committing himself to anyone. If Christian failed to open the door or laughed at him for showing up there would be no way he could save face now. Rutilio struggled not to tighten his grip on the flowers as he imagined Georgia mocking him and he had to will himself not to show signs of hyperventilating when he heard his alleged boyfriend announce he was coming. The Floridian was internally bracing himself for the worst as the door jerked and shuddered in place.

Florida blinked as he heard the Georgian clumsily swearing on the other side and suddenly it occurred to him that, as nervous as he was, the ever so ill experienced George Christian Jones was easily ten to twenty times more nervous! He stared up at the younger boy who stood tall and awkward in the doorway inviting him in and babbling about the door getting stuck. After a small beat Rutilio grinned.

"Hola, Peaches~!" he said cheerily as his whole posture magically relaxed and he moved forward to kiss his boyfriend on the cheek before waltzing inside. The Floridian was tempted to make fun of the door incident, but let it slide since he had more pressing matters to be concerned with. "These are for you," he tried to say casually as he handed Christian the bouquet and wine, but couldn't bring himself to watch for the reaction. Florida tried to act like it wasn't a big deal to him at all as he scurried off to make himself at home with a heavy blush on his as he dodged looking directly at his boyfriend throughout the entire process. Not unlike how he had tried to turn away from Christian when the younger boy had given him chocolates. The shy and genuinely sweet yet awkward side of Rutilio was perhaps the most allusive element of his personality.

"S-So what is for dinner?" he asked as his ears turned a bit pink when he realized he had stammered slightly and tried to act like it never happened.

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Florida stared at Georgia with a tiny blank smile as his boyfriend declared he had specially selected the fish to ensure it wasn't one of his aquatic buddies. Seriously? Rutilio had to hold his breath to keep from bursting into laughter as Christian fumbled to assure him he was just kidding, but it was too late. The Floridian had always known what an adorable little dork his favorite Georgian was, and yet the younger boy always found magical new ways to prove it! He wanted to behave. He told himself he was going to play nice with Christian tonight... But the temptation and tension was too great for him not to do something!

"Oh my God!" Rutilio gasped in horror as he approached the dinner table and stared at the cooked seafood as if he had stumbled across a homicide. "Jeffery!? No! He was going to be a father!" he fake sobbed with all the acting skill he had picked up from Disney and Universal Studios. Florida even buried his face in his hands for extra drama. "H-How could you, Peaches? You are a monster!"

He sniffled and fake-sobbed for a few moments, but couldn't hold it for long before his sniffles became snickers. Eventually he dropped his hands from his face to holding his belly as he laughed openly at how silly Georgia was. Florida chuckled as he finally got himself back under control and grinned mischievously. "You are so funny, Peaches~!" he said before sitting down at the table and smiled gently at his boyfriend. "Si, I have many friends who live in the sea, but they are also at different levels of the food chain. I cannot tell a fisherman not to eat a fish anymore than I can stop a dolphin. Much of the food I catch and eat come from the Gulf, too. You do not need to worry about it... So long as you do not touch one of my manatees." Though he was most commonly associated with alligators, the true apples of his eye had always been the manatees he gushed over and almost rabidly tried to keep anyone from even getting close to.

Florida's expression softened. "But... I am happy you were thinking of my feelings," he admitted. Sometimes it was difficult to get his own politicians who were supposedly looking out for his best interests to care about how he felt. Hearing that Christian was so concerned about something as silly as whether or not he was cooking up a friend of Rutilio's meant a lot. Even though he had made fun of Georgia for it that didn't mean it wasn't important to him to know that Christian cared.

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Florida wasn't sure if he should feel insulted or not when Georgia pointed out that when he was at home and left to his own devices he... was basically a little hermit. When he managed to slip away from the media, the popular state tended to avoid people while preferring animal companionship hidden somewhere in the depths of his swamps. Rutilio finally settled on simply being mildly embarrassed that Christian knew he still had some very anti-social habits. He hadn't realized that the younger state was paying that close of attention to him and his activities across the border. Normally his neighbors only paid extra attention to him when he was doing something extraordinarily peculiar. Which was more often than Florida liked to admit.

Damn that Fark.com for making him one of their tags...

Actually, speaking of some inner regional gossip... Rutilio kept the amused smirk off his face as he took a bite of the rather delicious salmon and took his time savoring the taste and pleasant calm of Christian's pouting. Then he once again decided to poke at his boyfriend.

"I hear your legislature has threatened to sue Tennessee again over the border," he suddenly said and couldn't hold back an amused grin. "For whatever reason he tolerates it better than North Carolina, but one of these days he is going to give you such a smack because of them." Even though he was teasing Christian again for acting like the King of the South, and he had his own ax to grind with his boyfriend over water, Florida couldn't help feeling a little envious. "... Your little brother respects you very much, si?"

Rutilio didn't want to make this date about California since he felt like he had spent more than enough time fretting and sulking and lamenting over his relationship with his own baby brother, but it was difficult for him not to worry about it. It was difficult for the Floridian not to be a little jealous that, though Georgia and Tennessee had their petty spats, the siblings usually remained civil enough that they easily forgave and forgot at the drop of a hat afterward. Florida and California on the other hand... I-It would take some time...

"Do you think he would be a good uncle to Conch?" Florida added "innocently" as he took a polite sip of wine and watched to see Georgia's reaction to the suggestion that he risked becoming a father of sorts to the young micronation which lived with Rutilio simply by dating him. The little girl was still too young to understand why marriage would most likely never be a legitimate option for the states, but he tended to humor her for the sake of simplicity. Honestly, it was a little vague whether or not Florida was her big brother or father figure himself, but the point was to try breaking the tension the only way he knew how. And that was by teasing his favorite Georgian.

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"Two daddies? Hm... but you were so good at playing a girl before~!" Florida chuckled merrily as he recalled Christian's stunt as a girl. "I think you would make an excellent mother." And he said it like it was a complement.

Ah, that was better. Rutilio felt so much better now that he knew he had Georgia totally off balance and stuttering shyly while the wine he had gone out of his way to find for his love interest dribbled out his boyfriend's nose. He had come here anxious that he was about to stumble into a strange new territory with Georgia where he was the disadvantaged one fumbling with this whole intimate dinner for two thing. Florida hadn't been sure what he would do if Christian somehow turned on the Southern Gentleman charm and used it on him like they were in some gothic romance novel with chivalry and grand poetic gestures of affection. Rutilio almost had panic attacks when someone tried to apalogize to him... Picking at his boyfriend was so much easier and it came more naturally. Why had he been worried about this nerd whisking him off his feet, anyway? Christian could barely figure out how to open his own front door!

Even so... for some reason Florida was tense and he didn't know what to do other than provoke his former rival. He was having a difficult time getting himself to eat the lovely dinner poor Georgia had made for him with how wound up he was. Maybe he should just shove everything off the table and throw Christian up against it so they could work out their nerves the fun way. Hey, jumping each other when and where the moment struck them had been working out pretty well so far! They had already skipped a few steps in the dating games anyway so why not skim through the rest? It wasn't like there was any big first to build up anticipation for since Rutilio had already...

.... But Christian hadn't yet, had he?

Florida gasped softly in shock as the realization struck him so suddenly he dropped his fork. He had never even considered letting Christian take charge before since he was usually the instigator. Rutilio sat in stunned silence a moment as he felt his cheeks turn red. It wasn't like he had never let someone on top of him before, but never because he had honestly invited them. It had always been about politics, money or power. The kind of things he really did mot want to mix up Georgia with in his head. He stared at Christian in silent shock throughout his internal monologue and debate. When he finally regained his own wits he quickly took a bit swig of wine with a faint blush.

Great. Now even thinking about sex wasn't an escape for him.

He needed another topic.

"H-Halloween! Are you still planning on dressing up?"

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Florida was glad he had gotten Georgia talking about something innocent and harmless like dressing up for Halloween. It was a relief that there was at least one topic they could have a neutral discussion over... And then Christian brought up one of his cosplay buddies. Rutilio struggled not to frown or make a sour face although he couldn't help raising a suspicious eyebrow.

"Is this the same person who gave you the schoolgirl uniform?" Florida asked although his personal displeasure was with whoever kept sending his boyfriend panties every month. He understood it was a friendly joke among comrades, but he wasn't laughing. Nope, he was not happy that someone out there knew all of Georgia's measurements. All of them. Despite his own tendency to show off and act out, Florida was surprisingly hung up over privacy and boasted laws which were far stronger than the US government's when it came to keeping his personal business personal. It was written into his very constitution after all. "At least they seem to know how to dress you," he admitted as he continued to nibble on his dinner while Georgia finished his.

Rutilio couldn't help being flattered, though, at how much effort Christian was apparently putting into taking Mexico's holiday and party seriously by researching it. The Floridian had never truly considered himself Mexican since he had always been most strongly affiliated with Cuba, but her culture had once been tied to his own as a fellow former Spaniard. Even little gestures that showed Georgia was being more accepting of anything which so much as smelled like it was linked to Spanish heritage meant a great deal to Rutilio. His posture also seemed to relax a bit and he seemed to sit up higher with pride. "Luz Maria's art is always very beautiful and unique. Especially this time of the year so you should like it," the Floridian boasted. "Maybe your SCADs college could learn something from her. Forget Italy. Especially Romano. He isn't even good at painting and is an ungrateful b*****d anyway." Perhaps he was a little biased, but he stood by his belief that the Latin American nations, his former family, deserved more recognition for their artistic contributions to the world.

Rutilio hesitated when he realized Georgia was done and he still had a ways to go. That was fast! He looked down at the meal and debated saving the rest for later, but then Christian might think that meant he didn't like the meal he had prepared specially for him. Florida quickly tried to gobble up his food before jumping up to go join his boyfriend in the bedroom and hopefully away from prying eyes. He all but bounced onto the bed as if it were his own while the movie downloaded and smirked.

"So... are you still planning on making me dress up as your Halloween partner?" Rutilio asked even though he secretly feared that a companion costume might mean he'd need to wear something one of Christian's weird friends came up with.

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Florida was still a bit skeptical of this Alex character that probably knew more about his boyfriend's body than he did. It sounded sketchy to him, but he wasn't going to press the issue. Rutilio was simply more secretive about his personal life, and he had known that letting someone who was far more extroverted to be a part of said personal life would force the eldest former colony in the US to be more flexible. He could be more flexible. He wasn't so set in his ways that he couldn't adapt! Rutilio had learned to adapt to his transplants who now dominated South Florida... more or less... Either way, if he could handle a population with only 30% of the people naturally born as part of him, and still keep some shred of sanity, then he could handle Christian's weird friends.

Rutilio decided not to think a out it anymore as he shifted so his boyfriend would be more comfortable against him. He quietly recalled France's advice about putting his arm around Georgia then letting it eventually navigate down to the blond's backside. Was it too soon to try it? He really wanted to try it. When the younger boy shifted excitedly, the Floridian almost jerked as if caught red handed for plotting against his special regions. It took him a moment to realize what Christian was excited about and he chuckled with relief.

"I do not have a problem with you dressing me," Florida said while trying to act cool and confident. "It is not like you could put me in anything that my good looks wouldn't be able to shine through, anyway." And it wasn't like he had never dawned a ridiculous outfit in public when it suited his purpose. He was the state who had dressed up like a bunny in order to catch and fine deviants who forgot to wear their seat belts. "I do not mind being your--wait, what?"

His proud and slightly narcissistic smirk went blank when Christian suggested he attend the party as the Demonic Georgian's captured Angelic Floridian. Dear God. The Britannia Angel--a creature which would haunt his dreams forever after being part of an emotional (and frequently drunk) England's army during America's Revolution--came to mind and he had to resist a slight shiver. But he had already said too much to back out now.

"That sounds... great," Rutilio said as he recalled how short the Britannia Angel's toga-dress-robe had been and struggled not to relive some strange, unspeakable trauma from his younger days. If God loved him then surely Christian would not envision a costume based on the horror England sometimes wrought upon the world.

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"For once it was not Rupaul's influence that I was worried about..." Rutilio confessed although he wondered if it was wise to tell Christian he was concerned that papa England also sowed the seeds for some of the younger boy's less manly habits. He was fairly certain that it was actually South Carolina's fault (like everything always was) but that didn't mean there wasn't blame to share. Not that it mattered. The Floridian knew most didn't see the Land of Flowers as being a bastion of masculinity, either. Truth be told... La Florida was a very effeminate name in Spanish, but his land had been named by European explorers long before he was actually born and so he didn't let it bother him. No one had ever mistaken him for a female, at least, even if he did have a girly name.

Florida turned his attention mostly towards the movie although it was for the purpose of keeping himself entertained as he was secretly thrilled just to sit and cuddle his Georgian. He was coming to accept that, yes, he was surprisingly clingy and adored such simple contact even when it wasn't apparently going anywhere. Rutilio just wanted to be touching and was content so long as there was some physical contact. Although he was starting to get a little jealous of that tablet for monopolizing Georgia's attention... Florida eventually decided that being content with simple contact was all well and good, but the greedy boyfriend was no longer satisfied with peacefully allowing Christian to doodle. Now was the time to strike!

Slowly and methodically the Floridian's hand snuck down the blond's slender waist, over his hips and around to the soft yet firm cheeks of a particular badonkadonk. When his fingers reached their destination unthwarted Rutilio felt as though he deserved some fanfare or at least a high five. He couldn't help grinning with obnoxious glee at managing to make it and imagined that France would be proud of him.

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