A/N: Well, I'm not sure about the last chapter, but we'll see how it goes. Also, thank you for your reviews. I was going to make Johnson the main villain in this story but I decided that he won't appear until in the final two chapters.

Characters: Mircea Tomescu (Romania) and Nikolai Tsvetanov (Bulgaria). Original characters belong to Mr. Himaruya.

Warning: Some language later in this chapter.

…..

"Andrei, what are you doing?" Mircea asked, letting out an annoyed sigh.

"What do you think? You said that you're going to introduce me to your friend, so I'm preparing myself," Andrei answered hastily. He was getting his notebook in case that he'll get ideas for his future business and to ask this new person some very uncomfortable, personal questions.

Pinching bridge of his nose, the older brother groaned. "Put your notebook away. I'm worried that you might do something illegal," he muttered, shooting a warning look. No way was he going to let his little brother get away with whatever he was planning to do.

"Fine. You're ruining my fun, big brother," Andrei grumbled. He threw his notebook onto his bed in anger. Mircea just rolled his eyes at this. That was normal, though not as often. Both brothers were more of mischievous personality.

"You about done?" Mircea asked, leaning on the doorway. The younger brother turned to look at him. Slowly nodding, he walked over to the older brother. Mircea held his arms out for the other.

"Sorry. I guess I'll stay out of trouble. But I really wanted to know about your friend's personal life- see if he has any dark secrets or something," Andrei chuckled, wrapping his arms around Mircea's waist and just nuzzled into his chest.

The older one chuckled. "I don't think he'd tell right away. He has some trust issues. You know, opening up to most people." He returned the hug, but decided to keep an even closer eye on him. Andrei nodded and they started for the student center where Nikolai was waiting for them.

While waiting, the Bulgarian had replayed the scene from the night before over and over in his head. The music had drawn him to the roof. Shame that the person who played his fiddle had fled upon being discovered. Nikolai decided that if he came across the fiddler again, he'd just stay quiet to listen on the music.

'If only..' he thought, sighing to himself. 'You had to let him get away.' His thoughts were interrupted as Mircea came up to him with Andrei. "Oh, hello," Nikolai said, smiling. "I see that you've brought someone with you."

"Yep. This is my younger brother, Andrei. I've talked about him a few times," the Romanian replied. As he turned to introduce Nikolai, Andrei had already left. Growling to himself, Mircea made a mental note to punish his brother as soon as the younger brother turned up. "I'm going to have to write this into a letter to our parents.." he grumbled.

Nikolai chuckled quietly. "Can't stay still in one spot, can he? At least I now know what to expect from him. So, to continue my story, we'll head outside." He got up from where he was sitting. They had left their stuff back in their dorms as there was no need for them.

Mircea nodded and he followed Nikolai outside. It was still warm outside and soon, cold weather will arrive. As they walked, the Romanian sneaked a look at the other. When the Bulgarian turned to look, Mircea quickly faced straight, trying to look normal. Nikolai smiled softly to himself. Finally, they found a spot underneath a large tree and sat down there.

Resting against the tree, Nikolai waited for the other to sit down. When Mircea did, but just laid down, the Bulgarian picked up where he left off the last time. "As you figured out, I did have some history with Johnson. Last year, like he did it to you, Johnson also tried to recruit me into his club. Taking me to the same weights room you were taken to, but in this case, he and his thugs didn't even start sizing me up," he chuckled, looking very pleased at what happened.

"Oh? What did you do?" Mircea asked, looking up at the other. So they did have a history. That explains it. Trying to make himself comfortable, the Romanian sat up to lean on the tree. A gentle breeze blew, knocking a leaf or two off even though they were still green.

"Before they had a chance to make me use weights, I shoved one of them into a nearby weight stand. Then I quickly made an escape and because I left so quickly, Johnson couldn't even catch me," Nikolai continued, sliding down a little to be a bit more relaxed. "Since then, I've avoided him but kept an eye on him, too."

"Wooow. Some story you got there," the Romanian chuckled. He looked up at the Bulgarian, now curious. "Well, with this part of your story is out of way, I have something to give you. It's for your birthday. I was going to give it on that day, but since I might be busy…" He handed his gift to the other, blushing a little bit.

A little stunned, Nikolai slowly took it and turned it over in his hands. Chuckling quietly, the Bulgarian glanced at the other. "Should I be worried about this? But thank you, though." Removing the wrapping, he opened a small box and pulled out an antique compass.

"Look on the back," Mircea muttered, now sitting up. Nikolai did so as told and to his surprise, there was an inscription engraved on the back. "When I came across this compass a year ago, I noticed the surnames. I can make out the ones in my language. But not in the other one.." the Romanian continued. A thought flashed across his mind. 'Why am I getting a feeling that somehow this gift was a past connection..?'

Smiling, the Bulgarian placed the compass back into the box. "Blagodarya. No one has given me something like this before," he muttered. Then he looked at the clock. Mircea would have to be told about the scene from last night. Nervously scratching himself on the back of his head, Nikolai looked ahead at the ground.

"Um..Mircea, would you find me weird or crazy if I discovered someone playing a fiddle on the roof? It was last night," he said quietly. 'He is now going to think that way.' The sun had moved, shining the warmth on their legs.

For a good minute, the Romanian just stared at the other. But then, he started to laugh. "Fiddler on a roof! Kind of reminds you of a certain pl- wait. You said someone was playing their fiddle on a roof last night?" Mircea asked quietly. Nikolai shook his head and the other took it as a yes. "Um.. well… it is weird, but not crazy. I guess someone just wanted to find a good time and place to play."

"I guess so. When I called out to him, he was quite surprised and just said to not to pay any attention. Then he ran off into the stairway," Nikolai explained. He sighed, still hoping to see that fiddler again. "You know, it's odd, but I swore that his voice sounded familiar. Like yours."

"Familiar? Oh.. you could have mistaken me for someone else. I mean- how many students we know who play a fiddle?" Mircea asked, sounding more nervous every second. He was speaking rapidly. But he tried to keep his cool and acted himself. He was trying to divert this topic away.

The Bulgarian suddenly leaned forward, his face quite close to the other's. "Oh, really?" he chuckled, a smirk on his face. "I'm betting that you and the fiddler could be the same person."

"Mind backing up a little? You're invading my personal face space," the Romanian grumbled. It was quite uncomfortable. "And how do you know? It was dark; there's no way you'll figure it out."

"You're probably right. I just wanted to know who he was," Nikolai said, a little annoyed. As asked, he backed up. Sighing, the Bulgarian looked over at the compass, reading inscriptions on the back.

"Understandable," Mircea chuckled quietly. He watched the other. "I like you too much." The Romanian wanted to reach out to stroke Nikolai's cheek. Just to soothe him, but that'd be awkward. After all, they only knew each other for just over a month now.

When Mircea said that he liked him too much, Nikolai got surprised. But he relaxed a second later, pleased that the other didn't see him as crazy or weird. "I'm glad. I like you, too," the Bulgarian said, muttering for only the Romanian to hear. "And you're one of the very few that I'm now quite comfortable to be around with."

"Good. Otherwise we won't even be sitting here," Mircea said, grinning. Once again, his famed sharp tooth showed through. "C'mon. Let's test out the compass. I'm sure that it works fine. But you never know with an antique one.."

Shaking his head, Nikolai stood up and waited for the other to do the same. It took Mircea a while; he had been sitting on the ground. Slowly, the Romanian stood up and leaned on the tree. His foot, leg, and rear had gone numb. Going numb sure felt weird. Before he could fully recover from this weird feeling, Mircea nearly fell over, his foot also going to sleep.

"Need a hand?" Nikolai asked, chuckling at the sight of Mircea coping with numbness. He held his hand out for Mircea to grab on. The Romanian just nodded, taking it and held onto it tight.

"Very funny. I've done this before and I need to remember not to do this so much," Mircea groaned. But he then laughed quietly. "Besides, it's getting late and I've got assignments to worry about. If you'd like, we can study together."

The Bulgarian smiled and shaking his head for yes once again, they started heading back to the dorms instead of the library or student center. On the way, Nikolai stopped to stare at a huge poster in the aerospace/aviation building. "Mircea, have you seen this yet? It's for the air race."

Nodding, the Romanian grinned. "Yep. My instructor suggested that I should go for it and I registered two days later. Which I've been meaning to ask you: would you like to be part of my team, Nikolai? I need help all I can get for preparing for the race."

Nikolai leaned in to the other and just whispered. "I'd love to be part of your team, Mircea," he said so quietly that only Mircea heard it. Along the hallway, Arthur watched them from a distance. He still hasn't forgotten about that poster from day one.

….

In the dorm, the Romanian was moving some things around. Nikolai was coming over in a few minutes so they could study together. They decided on that they could study together once a week for over a month now. During that time, Mircea started working on the plane he was to use for the race the following spring. And Nikolai has been helping him, working out physics and other details of the plane. Along the way, the two have gotten closer. Closer than usual; the Romanian was starting to get used to the Bulgarian's way of showing affection.

One morning, Mircea was on the way to check the blueprint for one of the wings. Out of the blue, Nikolai grabbed the other by his belt and pulled him closer. When Mircea was confused, Nikolai explained that in his home country, it was the way some men express their close friendship with other males, like a brotherhood. For a while, they stood together before realizing they still had work to do. But the Romanian sensed that it was more than just expressing a close friendship.

Around the same time period, Nikolai continued to hear the fiddle being played nightly. Sometimes he'd left the window open just to hear it. On some nights, he'd sneak to the roof just to watch the fiddler. Each time, the Bulgarian sat there quietly, hoping for at least a glimpse of the fiddler's face. But he was unable to do so. However, this gave him a chance to check out the musician's physical features. The more Nikolai studied, the more he started to put together of who this person was. He had this nagging feeling that the fiddler may be someone he already knows.

Moving of larger things could be heard scraping across the floor by the students below the Romanian. Too bad for them. Mircea ignored their pounding on the ceiling. Another minute of getting his bed pushed closer to the wall and one man could be heard shouting from the below.

"Hey! Would you just fucking stop moving your things?!" the man shouted angrily. Scoffing, Mircea just stomped his foot to annoy them more.

"Your damn fault for getting assigned to the stupid dorm you're in now!" he yelled back. By then Nikolai had come into the other's dorm. The Bulgarian just raised his eyebrow at the Romanian's shouting. He got a bit concerned as Mircea grabbed his broom and started hitting the floor with it.

"Keep this up and I'm gonna report your ass to the DA!" the student one floor below threatened.

That struck Mircea's nerve. "You know what you are?! Prost!" It was likely that they didn't know what that word means. But it was enough for him.

By then the Bulgarian was wise enough to close the door, muffling the noise. Locking the door, Nikolai just stood watching the Romanian. When Mircea finally calmed down, he turned to just notice the other.

"If you're finished cursing, how about we get to studying?" the taller student asked, his eyebrow still raised. He had held up his textbooks and notebooks as well.

"Sorry that you had to see me like this. I was just moving my things around so we can have a bit more space to work in. The students below me can deal with that," Mircea grumbled. Getting his own textbooks as well, he led the other to his desk and pulled up another chair for himself. Nikolai snickered and together, they both worked on some of most difficult problems from their college algebra classes. Luckily for both of them, mathematics was one of their strongest (through not always) subjects.

They were still at the last two problems when a knocking appeared on the door. "I'll get it. Keep your shirt on!" the Romanian snapped as he got up to open the door. As soon as he opened it, part of him wished he didn't. There stood one of most dreaded people on earth: Arthur. Why can't that DA just turn around and go bother someone else? Mircea was busy, trying to give off a damn good clue that he wanted the Brit to know that he was unwelcome here.

'Just please fucking go away,' the Romanian thought, but opted for to be a better host. Before Mircea could invite Arthur in, the Brit pushed the other aside. Nikolai had turned around and he, too, was annoyed at the sight of the DA.

"What do you want, Kirkland?" the Bulgarian asked coldly. He was still in the chair, his arms crossed. Whatever his reason was, Arthur better hurry up. It was bad enough that the finals were coming up soon, but this visit just added onto their pile of problems.

"Just came to tell Tomescu that he has been given a warning for refusal to take down the poster. I was also going to tell you something important, but since this also involves him as well…" Arthur explained without a beat. He was holding his clipboard. Was he writing down some violations they made?

Nikolai stood up, now focused on the Brit. "What can it be more important than the finals?" he asked. Mircea huffed at the mention of getting a warning just because of the poster.

Arthur raised his eyebrow at the Romanian huffing. "Your fault for getting the warning for your poster, Mircea. I told you to take it down from the very beginning. But you didn't, so this is what you're slapped with," he said coolly. "As for the other topic, I was told that you two had a fight with Johnson and his Weight Club. This is going on your records."