A/N: And this, is the last chapter! I hope it's alright. I tried my bestestest, I guess. I hope you shall enjoy it, and thanks for the kind reviews that encouraged me so greatly!

Sleeping peacefully in his warm bed, Lovino faintly smiled to himself as he dreamed of his best friend, Gilbert. Whenever he dreamed, which was not often, it was usually a nightmare. However, once in awhile he would dream of Gilbert whenever he was excited to see the albino the next day. It was hard not to think about him every night before he went to sleep. Whether he was angry at him, disappointed, happy, or worried; it didn't matter. If he thought about the guy before bed, it would mean there's a 90% chance of having a dream about him. He obviously didn't mind it, except when he would have weird dreams of them being rather.. sensual together. But this time, it was an very good dream and he was happy to see Gilbert's smiling face.

Unfortunately, it was all ruined when an evil spirit decided to awaken him from this heavenly dream.

"Brother! Hey! It's the day before Christmas Eve! That means.. it's Christmas Eve EVE! WAKE UP!" Feliciano practically screamed, as he jumped up and down on Lovino's bed.

I'll fucking kill him.. I will.

Lovino's eyes darted open as he evily glared at his nuisance of a brother. He loved his brother to death, but right now he hated him more than anyone in the world. And as usual, Feliciano ignored the scowl on Lovino's face and continued to be a bother.

"Why.. Feli? Why do you insist on doing this to me?" Lovino groaned, as he sat up in bed.

"Because, we have to start our day! This is going to be so fun," Feliciano exclaimed, jumping from the bed and quickly running down the stairs.

Looking around the room, Lovino could tell that it was around 10 or 11 in the morning, but he felt so comfortable and warm in his bed that he didn't want to start his day. He lazily sat on the edge of his bed, the cold winter weather instantly stinging at his legs and feet. A grouchy whine escaped his mouth as he slowly walked to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. Mornings weren't his favorite, obviously; especially winter mornings.

He picked up his pace as he walked downstairs, the wonderful aroma of freshly made breakfast calling out to him. Both Caesar and Feliciano smiled at him as he joined them at the table at began to devour his bread covered in jam, and chugged down some coffee. He felt sort of happy that he could enjoy an average morning with his little family. With Christmas only a couple days away, everything must be perfect or else he'd be severely disappointed. He continuously glanced at their big, decorated Christmas tree in the living room that held dozens of gifts under it.

"Ve~ did you know? If you kiss the one you love on Christmas Day, you'll be granted a Christmas miracle!" Feliciano randomly said, after finishing his food.

"Bullshit," Lovino instantly responded, rolling his eyes. Although, his mind suddenly adverted to Gilbert.

"Ometto.." Caesar said, smiling as he shook his head, "Is that so, Feli? What if you love more than one person?"

Feliciano thought for a second before shrugging, "Well, I don't know. Sucks to be that person, though."

Caesar frowned and cursed the stupid 'miracle' just as Lovino had done. Just because he wasn't going to save all his love for 1 woman, doesn't mean he shouldn't be granted a wish. In fact, it's selfish to let only a single person get a taste of your love! No one should be that selfish, and the person who gives the most love to the most people deserves all the miracles in the world! Yeah, his grandson must have gotten the story, rumor, myth or whatever the hell it was, wrong.

"Well it's true! The book I read said so!" Feliciano pouted very childishly, as he got up to sit on the couch.

"…Don't tell me you're going to try it," Lovino said, sending a very disapproving glare to the optimistic younger Italian.

Feliciano only smiled brightly and began to watch TV, secretly strategizing how he would capture Ludwig's lips.

"So, you two are going to the carnival tonight, right?" Caesar asked.

"..Si!" Lovino suddenly blurted out, as he remembered all about the winter carnival held every year before Christmas Eve.

In fact, that was the whole reason he had gone to bed very excited the night before. Although the stupid event was packed as hell because it only lasted for 3 days, he was happy that Gilbert agreed to join them. They would spend lots of time riding on the rides, eating junk, drinking hot cocoa to stay warm, and whatever else there was to do at the place. Now, he would impatiently go about his day until the early evening when they would meet.

"Come on.. come on, damn it.." Lovino intensely stared at the clock in the kitchen, waiting for it to turn into the magical numbers of 8:00. He had paced around all day, even going so far as to shovel some of the snow in front of the driveway to waste time. Then instead of being followed around by Feliciano, he was the one doing the following. It had started to make the younger Italian a little uneasy. Now it was a battle against time!

"You know.. we can just leave right now. It'll take at least 10 minutes to get there," Caesar suggested, as he and Feliciano had already started walking towards the front door.

"I-I knew that!" Lovino blushed, before following them and eagerly hopping into the car.

After being very disappointed that the drive took a total of 17 minutes, Lovino hurriedly ran towards the entrance. People were already inside, being as it opened at exactly 8pm. He watched as Feliciano met up with Ludwig and begged Caesar to take them to play some of the games.

"You coming, ometto?" Caesar asked, looking towards Lovino.

"No, go ahead. I'm waiting.." Lovino answered, only paying half attention as he looked through the huge crowds. He desperately searched around for a figure with messy white hair and pale skin, hoping to meet with those gleaming red eyes. He almost gave up completely when suddenly his vision became pitch black and he felt a pair of hands covering his eyes.

"Guess who?" whispered a voice from behind him.

Lovino struggled for a second before hearing the voice and getting his hopes up again, but instantly became angry when he turned around and saw Gilbert's smirking face.

"You're late, bastard!" he yelled, frowning as Gilbert patted his head.

"My bad. I found a rare sword with an even rarer enchant on it. Then me and my buddies tested it out in a duel for awhile, that baby sure is powerful," he casually explained.

Lovino only stared at him in confusion for a few seconds before realizing that he was talking about WoW. But, because it was supposed to be an exciting night, he resisted the urge he had to do something horrific to the jerk. Instead, he decided he'd make Gilbert buy whatever he wanted for him tonight.

"What the fuck ever. Let's go! We're missing out on all the damn fun!" Lovino yelled, grabbing Gilbert by the collar and dragging him through the gates that led to the carnival.

Inside, Lovino gasped at all of the people that roamed around the whole damn place. It was almost as if the entire city decided to come to the carnival. Sure, it was the first night it opened, but this wasn't going to be pretty. If they wanted to ride on some of the bigger and awesome rides, it would probably take an hour of standing in line, from the looks of it. Even the smaller games where you win prizes were full of people failing to win them. The snack bars of different types of foods also had many people, but not as much considering the fact that carnival food was rather expensive. Suddenly, he noticed that he was alone in this vast amount of bastards.

"Gilbert?" he said, looking around for the albino who seemed to be no where in sight now.

Fuck.

He hated being alone, but even more so, he hated being lost. He suddenly started to feel the way he did when they couldn't find his group and classmates on that field trip to the museum earlier that year. He felt the need to scream out for help.

"Lovi, fucking pay attention," Gilbert said, as he came out of nowhere. He wore a frown as it seemed he'd been looking for Lovino, too.

"You walk too damn fast!" Lovino yelled, almost teary eyed. But he was so relieved to see Gilbert that he only stood there.

"There's so many people here," Gilbert squinted as he stood on his tippy-toes to look past the huge crowd. "We'll have to hold hands so we don't lose each other."

Before Lovino could question it, Gilbert tightly grabbed onto his hand and led him into the crowd of people. He deeply blushed at the touch of Gilbert's strong but soft hands. Even though it was cold as hell outside, it was like his hand harbored its own warmth. This was already fun, even if they hadn't done anything yet, Lovino felt like he was having the time of his life. He had to repeatedly tell himself that this was just a fun night with a friend. A friend that he'd kissed more than once, slept with dozens of times, and was obviously attracted to no matter how many times he tried to deny it to himself.

This isn't a date. This isn't a date. It's not, seriously. It's not a damn date!

They walked around for a couple minutes before Gilbert suddenly halted, causing Lovino to bump into him, as he was still being dragged along.

"What the hell are you doing?" he frowned, rubbing his forehead.

"What.. what is that stuff? !" Gilbert sputtered out, quickly pointing to a nearby stand.

"Cotton candy..?" Lovino said, as Gilbert suddenly pulled him along to the stand filled with many different of the soft candy.

"Why does it look so…SOFT?" by now, the German's eyes had widened greatly as he stared in amazement at the sugary treat.

Seriously?

It was plain to see that apparently, Gilbert had never had cotton candy before. Or rather, he'd never even seen it before. For some reason, that fact made Lovino feel a little sad inside. Come on, everyone has had cotton candy at least once in their life time, right? Or at least heard of it and seen it? Nonetheless, Gilbert continued to stare at the mysterious object and watched the people around him that ate it, enjoying every bite. He knew that he had to buy it for the poor guy, he just had to!

"Gilbert, what color do you want?" Lovino said, standing at the front of the line.

"I can choose any color?" he gasped in surprise, his eyes frantically looking from one flavor to the next.

"Yeah, so choose one. We can't hold up the damn line."

"Then.. that one!" Gilbert excitedly pointed to the one with three different colors. Blue at the top, yellow in the middle, and pink at the bottom.

After Lovino bought the treat for the frantic guy, he stared at it for awhile, examining the softness and wondering how the hell it was supposed to be eaten. Lovino couldn't help but laugh, Gilbert looked so damn cute when he was clueless like that about something so simple. He watched in amusement as Gilbert picked at the treat and tried to wear some of it as a mustache.

"Idiot, you eat it like this," Lovino said, leaning forward and softly biting into the cotton candy.

"How is that possible?" Gilbert titled his head and hesitated for a bit before biting into it as well. He almost freaked out when it instantly melted into his mouth. It was so sweet, he quickly bit another piece of it and watched as it melted onto his tongue.

"It's 'awesome', right?" Lovino asked, a faint smile appearing on his face.

Gilbert quickly nodded as Lovino pulled him along to do more things. They managed to get on a few small rides, like the bumper cars where Gilbert totally owned Lovino up against a wall and laughed as the Italian cursed at him. They went on the teacups ride, and Lovino almost puked as Gilbert dramatically spun the damn thing out of control. He thought it was so much fun, but Lovino had a headache afterwards that lasted at least 20 minutes. To calm his painful ache that he continuously blamed Gilbert for, they stayed off of the rides for awhile and played games instead.

"I want to play that game," Gilbert said, pointing to a stand filled with many different stuffed animals as prizes. Who doesn't love big stuffed animals? They're far too cuddly to pass up! He was sure to win this game with his awesomeness.

"I don't think so. These games make it look so easy, so you almost win every time. Almost. And you keep trying until you're out of money without any prizes whatsoever," he tried to explain the way he saw it all. But Gilbert didn't seem to give a shit.

"Lovi, it's a damn carnival. You're supposed to spend cash and have fun until you wake up with a hangover!" Gilbert said, pulling Lovino over to the game anyway.

"Dumb ass.. I've warned you."

"So, all I have to do is throw the ball into the big circle?" Gilbert said, as the guy running stand explained the rules.

"One try. And then we're moving on," Lovino said, he knew that if they kept trying, Gilbert would end up broke. Gilbert pretty much never gave up anything, especially when it came to games. He always wanted to prove that he was the best, even when it truly didn't matter.

"I got this! My awesomeness will not fail."

"And if it does?"

"It won't. But if by any chance it ever does, I'll need a Christmas miracle!" Gilbert laughed, as he then focused his aim.

"A.. Christmas miracle?" Lovino asked, as he remembered Feliciano mentioning something like this earlier that morning. And sure enough, Gilbert succeeded in winning on his first try.

"What did I say? Pure awesome!" Gilbert smirked, picking up his large prize that he chose.

"Pure luck. And, I didn't know you liked Polar bears."

"I prefer pandas. This isn't for me, though. It's for you," he said, shoving the big stuffed bear into Lovino's arms.

Lovino's face flushed red as he clutched the gift and tried to register in his mind what had just happened. Before he could start thinking of a way to say thank you without sounding weird, Gilbert grabbed his arm and began pulling him into another direction.

"We're going on that next! It's a ride but it's slow so your headache won't come back," he said, pointing to the ferris wheel in the direction he was dragging Lovino to.

The line wasn't so long, so they almost immediately got their turn to board the tall ride. Lovino tightly held onto his special bear given to him by his very special person as they started to go higher up above the ground. Looking up, it was as if they could touch the cold, starry night sky. But looking down, Lovino felt a pain in his stomach for being up so high. All the while, Gilbert sat there and relaxed as if being a million feet in the air was normal for him. Once they reached the top, the ride stopped.

Suddenly, Lovino remembered a very similar scenario in one of the romance novels he had read before. The main character confessed his love to his girlfriend when they reached the very top of the ride and then made out and lived happily ever after or some crap like that. It was just a stupid book, so why was his heart racing so fast right now? He began to feel hopeless, getting so flustered over something so silly like this. Only girls get flustered so easily! Well, that's what he told himself. Girls were so cute, especially when they blushed. He had only been able to make a girl blush maybe one time, and that was because he ran out of the house with only boxers on.

Why the hell am I thinking about this..

He forgot how his thoughts had suddenly ended up on embarrassing memories of the past. But he wondered, had Gilbert ever been able to make a girl blush before? And on purpose? Surely not, the bastard tried to act cool but he was really just a goofy, egotistical guy. Still, there were many times Gilbert had made him blush. Even now, he was blushing a little. So it wasn't impossible that Gilbert had made others blush, too. It somehow led him to asking the following question.

"Hey, Gilbert?" he began, as Gilbert only tilted his head as if to say he was listening. "Would you like me more if I was a girl?"

The sudden question gained Gilbert's full attention as he quickly glanced towards Lovino and raised one eyebrow.

"What?"

"It's a yes or no question, so just answer it."

"…Well, I'd still like you the same even if you were a girl, guy, dog, cat, bird, fish, panda.." he began to list even more obscure things before eventually saying, "But if you were some of those things, we wouldn't be able to talk anymore.. that'd make me sad. Unless, we did some sort of magic trick so you could speak the human language! And then-"

"Alright, damn! I get it. I was just asking about that one thing," Lovino said, getting a bit irritated.

"..If you're thinking about getting a sex change, I'd say you're perfect the way you are right now."

"I WASN'T THINKING THAT!" he yelled, furiously shaking his head at the horrid thought. "B-But! Um.. t-thanks, I guess.."

"You're still so weird, tomato face," Gilbert teased, as he went back to staring into the beautiful night sky.

"How about.. well, would you consider dating me no matter if I was a guy or a girl? !" Lovino blurted out the second part of that question as he quickly looked down.

"W-Well… yeah, I mean.. as long as you're still yourself, Lovino Vargas, who cares about the rest?" Gilbert tried to explain, as he scratched his head.

"Oh.. alright, then," Lovino said, staring in awe at the red-faced guy next to him.

"What are you staring at..?"

"Nothing in particular. It's just, you're blushing."

"N-No I'm not! The Awesome Gilbert never gets flustered!" he yelled, turning his face around to try and hide the fact that he was growing redder by the second.

"Don't lie. You're so blushing right now," Lovino continued to tease, as he leaned closer to the embarrassed German.

Gilbert turned back around and thought he almost fell off of the ride when he realized how close Lovino's face was to his now. He decided that he wouldn't let the teasing Italian win! No matter what! He needed to proclaim his championship title!

"Are you trying to tease me, the master of teasing?"

"Maybe."

"Well then! We'll make this a challenge, Lovino the beginner," he smirked, gently brushing Lovino's bangs out of his eyes and then flirtatiously lifting his chin with one finger.

Lovino could feel his face darkening red now, and his whole body burning. He didn't care, though. In fact, he wasn't even trying to win this little challenge Gilbert had announced. He only continued to deeply stare into those gleaming red eyes. It was as if they were trapping his soul, for he would do anything that they told him to do right about now. However, right now, there was only one thing he wanted to do. He adverted his gaze to Gilbert's soft lips and wanted to immediately seize them. He didn't care how or why, he just knew he needed them. They were calling out to him, he told himself. Even if his mind was playing tricks on him, who cares? He was going to get what he wanted even if it killed him.

"Lovi..?" Gilbert said, as he noticed that Lovino's face was inching closer to his own. He didn't even think about stopping the boy, though. Whatever Lovino was going to do to him, he knew he'd probably like it a lot.

Unfortunately for the two hungry souls, the ferris wheel began to move along again with a sudden jolt. It was so surprising that they accidentally bumped heads. Lovino's headache was now back, with the addition of throbbing external pain from bumping into Gilbert's noggin. What seemed like a long while of sitting together at the top of the wheel was in actuality, only about 5 minutes. Once they exited that tragic ride, and feeling highly embarrassed, they decided to search for the others until it was time to go home.

Lovino tossed and turned in bed that night, thinking of how close he was to tasting Gilbert's lips again. He was a little ashamed to admit it to himself at first, but he dropped that thought and decided he would definitely try again the next day on Christmas Eve, during the little party that they were invited to. Originally, he was going to simply skip this because he had heard Francis was hosting it but now this would be his battle zone.

We're doing this whether you want to or not.

On Christmas Eve, Feliciano annoyingly woke him up the same way as the morning before. After his morning grouchiness disappeared, Lovino prepared himself for his plan and the party. He wrapped Gilbert's gift that he planned to give to him later that evening in cute little wrapping paper and a fancy bow. After screwing around for awhile, he asked Caesar to drop him off to the party location and prayed it wouldn't be like the last party he went to with Gilbert. Thankfully, everyone there was pretty classy and mature. Aside from not knowing many people there, it was actually kind of fun. Well, the food was fun. Lovino stuffed his face with different cuisines most of the time. But hey! It was free! He stopped once he noticed that a certain target had arrived.

"Welcome, Gilly!" Francis said, practically running over and squeezing the German before Lovino could even make a move.

"Yo, the party can start now that the awesome is here," Gilbert snorted, finally pushing Francis off of him. But, once again, he was intercepted by a big hug from Antonio.

"Amigo! Merry Christmas Eve. Although you're so late.. anyways, we're about to play a game!" Antonio said.

Lovino sighed and turned back around, focusing on the delicious food.

"Boo~" Gilbert said, poking Lovino in the back. Even though he had arrived like 30 minutes ago, he continued to get interrupted and hadn't been able to talk to Lovino yet.

"What do you want, bastard?" Lovino snarled, annoyed at how practically everyone at the party continued to hog Gilbert as if he was some sort of trophy that everybody suddenly wanted.

"How lovely. Can't you at least smile today? It's Christmas Eve!" Gilbert smiled and voluntarily took the snack out of Lovino's hand and ate it.

"I was eating that!" he yelled, blushing a bit as he watched Gilbert slowly lick the chocolate off one of his fingers. The bastard must have been doing it on purpose! Who licks themselves like that?

"You've eaten enough. Now come on, this party isn't as awesome if you don't participate in the activities with me," Gilbert said, grabbing Lovino's wrist and pulling him to the other room with the others.

They all played a few random games that Lovino didn't really give a shit about. But, seeing as Gilbert was happy, he didn't mind joining in the fun. After awhile, Lovino had forgotten why he had come to the party in the first place. Oh well, it was still a nice experience to be able to hang with other people and Gilbert at the same time, without getting mega pissed off.

"Here," Gilbert said, as he handed a glass to Lovino.

"What is this?" he asked, as he sniffed the drink. It smelt like apples.

"Champagne."

"..We can't have this shit! We're all 17 and 18," Lovino hissed, about to snatch Gilbert's glass away, too.

"I was only joking. Damn, take a joke! It's apple cider, but we can pretend it's champagne. Let's make a toast to something."

"Fine. How about.. a toast to fixing your face?"

"Very funny, you're a comedian. But I think you love my face the way it is, considering you've been staring at it all day. How about a toast to an awesome next year?" Gilbert suggested, raising his glass.

Lovino only blushed and agreed, raising his glass up to Gilbert's. Suddenly, he remembered a very important detail.

"Wait," he said, rummaging through his coat pocket that hung on the racket. He pulled out his Christmas gift and quickly handed it to Gilbert. He nervously gulped as Gilbert opened it and almost wished he'd done it later when he wasn't standing there, watching him.

"No fucking way… a Nintendo 3DS? 3D!" Gilbert gasped and rubbed the game system's box against his cheek, before hugging it tightly and even kissing it.

"Yeah um.. I remember you saying a few months ago that you wanted one but would never be able to afford it and.. well, I know Grandpa Caesar got me one, too. He can't keep a secret. So.. now I'll have someone to play with and teach me?" was Lovino's long explanation as he looked down at the floor instead of at the happy German in front of him.

"Hmph. Are you trying to upstage me? Now my gift for you won't seem as awesome.." Gilbert childishly frowned as he took a small box out of his pocket with a cute bow on it and handed it to Lovino.

Lovino embarrassingly turned around and hurriedly unwrapped it to reveal a shiny silver necklace with a tomato on it that was made out of small red and green gems. It looked rather expensive, and it was adorable as hell; probably even custom made.

The little Italian was completely speechless as Gilbert reached over and grabbed it from his hands, then put it around his neck for him. Lovino playfully rubbed the beautiful tomato in between his index and thumb fingers as he wished he had a mirror right now. There was no way he'd go to the bathroom in Francis' house for anything.

"So yeah. I didn't know if you would have liked that or not-"

"I love it," Lovino suddenly blurted out, deeply blushing. "Thank you.."

Their little moment was sort of ruined when other people began to walk into the room, laughing and chatting. Lovino sighed as Francis randomly called him over. He was sure it was going to be something really stupid, but he went over there anyway. After all, it was his house. And Lovino practically ate all of the food earlier, so whatever.

"Lovi~ you should go under the mistletoe with me," Francis said, chuckling as if he was actually drunk from the weak apple cider.

"Fuck no!" Lovino scowled, as the annoying bastard was wasting his time.

"Aw. I bet if I was Gilbert you would've jumped under the mistletoe by now," Francis smirked, not even trying to be a little quiet as their were people around, even Gilbert.

"I.. he.. j-just shut the hell up!" Lovino was about to rip the frenchie's hair out when he noticed Gilbert was leaving.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Lovino asked, as he ran over to the albino and stopped him in the hallway.

"I have to go early, well it's not early anymore.. but, tomorrow I have to go to my foster's house."

"Why?"

"Well it's Christmas tomorrow, so it's only natural I have to go back there for a bit. We just pretend to be a happy family while some of their relatives come by and we eat dinner and crap like that. I could always ditch but I'm not leaving Ludwig like that," Gilbert explained, sighing as he didn't want to even see his foster parents faces, let alone spend a day with them. Especially Christmas; but he'd been doing this for the past year so it was normal.

"So you mean.. I won't get to see you tomorrow?" Lovino tried not to frown or look depressed as he felt, but his eyes showed it all.

"Sure you can! It'll only last a few hours, I think. Then me and Luddy can go to your place and we can all play with our new stuff!" he said excitedly, wanting to play his new portable system so badly right now.

"Well, I guess I'll allow you two bastards to come over," Lovino snorted, looking up as he pretended to be in thought. Though he didn't know, looking up was a bad idea.

Right above their heads was the mistletoe Francis had talked about only a couple minutes ago. A first, Lovino panicked. He didn't want Gilbert to think that he had stopped him just as he was under the stupid little thing, so that they'd have to kiss. He considered not saying anything or looking worried, that way they wouldn't have to do something so embarrassing at someone else's house. He then remembered that last night he had the complete intention of kissing Gilbert today.

Shit.. what was I thinking?

He figured that he must've been severely affected by the weird feeling, if he was going to purposely kiss Gilbert today. Now that he actually had the chance, he wasn't ready at all. This fact was obviously showing, as Gilbert noticed Lovino was suddenly fidgeting after he looked up to the ceiling. So, Gilbert decided to see why the hell the younger boy was acting so weird randomly.

"Ah.." Gilbert said, once he'd seen the mistletoe.

Nononono! Don't look at it…

Lovino screamed inside of his head, as Gilbert looked back down and only mischievously smiled at him. Thus, his nervousness caused him to sputter out nonsense.

"It's probably just decoration.. I mean! It's not real and.. well, you.. me.. damn it! The rules state that once a man and a woman come together under a mistletoe-" but he shut up once Gilbert suddenly wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him so closely, Lovino thought their bodies had merged.

"I don't give a shit what it says," Gilbert smirked, brushing his hand against Lovino's cheek.

Lovino could've sworn he was having a heart attack, or that this wasn't reality. Yeah, it couldn't have been reality! Gilbert doesn't usually at like this, and there's no way he would willingly kiss Lovino.

Just before their lips touched, Gilbert unexpectedly kissed him lightly on the cheek, before letting him go and smiling.

"Huh? That.. you cheated! That wasn't a real kiss, damn it!" Lovino loudly whispered as he didn't want the people in the other room to here.

"Like I said, I don't care~ Maybe next time I'll give you an awesome treat you can't resist," Gilbert smirked before quickly waving goodbye and leaving the home.

…Fucking tease!

The next day, after opening their presents and cleaning up the house, the Italians had many different relatives that visited their home. Besides the way they looked, nothing was new. They all continuously praised Feliciano for every little thing he did, while they only smiled once in awhile at Lovino before going back to doing something else. He loved his family, but sometimes he seriously wanted them all to go to hell. Sure, it's true his younger brother had a contagious smile, cute face and was super sweet. That didn't give them the right to call him their 'favorite nephew, cousin' and whatnot.

Even though these facts usually bothered Lovino every Christmas to the point where he'd caused them all to go home from his tantrums, this year he didn't really even care that much. The only person who he wanted to be accepted and treated fairly by was Gilbert. It's too bad Gilbert had to spend his Christmas with evil bastards, too. The German had sent him a text message earlier that morning, asking him to wish him luck. Lovino did just that, and hoped this would end faster so that they could spend Christmas together. But, after that, Gilbert never sent him another message or even a voicemail. Lovino had tried to contact him all day, but it seemed he must've still been dealing with the demons at their home.

"What's the matter, brother?" Feliciano asked, as he'd suddenly appeared on the balcony where Lovino was in an intense train of thought.

"Nothing. I'm just bored as fuck.. hey, can I ask your opinion of something?"

"Sure!" Feliciano smiled cheerfully, as Lovino never really asked him for anything.

"Is it.. bad to want to spend your Christmas with someone else instead of your family?"

Feliciano thought for a few seconds before shaking his head, "Nope! I'd say, spending Christmas with anyone that you love is the perfect Christmas ever! It shouldn't matter if they are blood related or not."

"I suppose that makes sense.. thanks," Lovino smiled shortly before running off to get his cell phone, and trying to contact Gilbert one more time before sunset. Finally, he replied.

"Gilbert!" Lovino called out, as he'd finally made it to the meeting spot at the pond that Gilbert chose.

"Hey, Lovi."

"Um.. Merry Christmas," Lovino blushed, as he handed the guy a big warm cookie with Christmas colors on them.

"Thanks.. it's good," Gilbert said, biting into the warm treat.

"Where's your brother? Aren't you guys coming to our place now that you're done for today?" Lovino asked, looking around for any signs of Ludwig.

"That's.. actually what I wanted to talk to you about, now that you're here," he said, the tone is his voice sounding very different from the previous two days.

"You don't want to come over..?"

"I do! It's just…" Gilbert stopped and rubbed his head to think of the words before continuing, "The foster bastards have decided to move to a more rural place at the end of next month.. they've given me the choice to either go with them or stay here, living on my own like I have been for the past year. Only problem is, who knows how long it'll be before I get to see Luddy again, if I stay.."

Lovino hadn't completely registered in his brain the big explanation that Gilbert had just given him. He waited for the albino to continue explaining, but he stayed quiet and continued to stare into the icy pond.

"What.." was all Lovino could say, as his mind was failing him.

"It means I stay here and only be able to see my brother once in a very long while, or I leave this place and sacrifice being with you!" Gilbert blurted out, as his voice began to quiver at the thought.

In these type of situations, what would one do? They would go down the more sensible road, right? Isn't it obvious to choose the one you've been protecting all your life, instead of the one you've only been close to for half a year or so? Lovino knew it was an easy choice to make, so why was Gilbert making it so difficult? All he needed was a push.

"Gilbert, go with your brother, obviously. Don't worry about me, I have my own things to take care of."

"But, it's not fair! He's my brother, and you're my.."

"I said just fucking go with them! He needs you more.. even though you'll have to put up with them, you should be able to sacrifice anything for your family. That includes me," Lovino said, trying to keep his voice from shaking as much as his body was. He continued to look at the ground before walking over to the stunned German and wrapping his arms around Gilbert's waist.

"Ti.. ti amo.." Lovino whispered, biting his bottom lips as hard as he could.

"What..?" Gilbert finally responded, as if he'd just been knocked out of a trance.

"It means.. I love you, stupid bastard!" pulling Gilbert down by his shirt, Lovino smashed their lips together in a heated kiss that seemed to last forever. Sadly, nothing lasts forever, Lovino learned. He had to use all the force in the world to pull himself away and quickly dash off as his eyes began to let loose the waterfall of tears he'd been desperately holding in.

Lovino felt as if both his head and his heart had exploded. He couldn't remember when he had returned home, how he had done it, why he was lying on his bed that was now soaking wet from tears; nothing. The only thing he could remember was the kiss he'd been thriving for these past couple days. He'd finally got it this afternoon, but for what? It's not like Gilbert liked him that way, anyway. And even if by chance he did, it's over now.

Why would he possibly choose me?

That's right, he wouldn't. No one would. When it came to Lovino vs. anything else, the other side would win. No one wanted to be bothered with him, he was too much of a killjoy. He'd even gained so much pity from Gilbert over this past year, it was pathetic. He had no reason to be depressed, after all, friends move away all the time! It's nothing new to anyone. You enjoy their stay and when they're gone, you say goodbye and move on.

We were just friends, after all..

Lovino could always make a new friend that would pity him just as much. Then that friend would one day have to leave him, too. That is, if he didn't drive them away first. This is all true, so why couldn't he stop crying? Gilbert was just his friend. They were friends who took care of each other. They laughed together, argued, made up, comforted, saved one another; everything. Gilbert was someone who he will never be able to forget even if he wanted to. It wasn't just in admiration, friendship, or respect, though.

Lovino loved Gilbert more than anyone else in the entire world. He couldn't go a single day without hearing from the German, and he couldn't go too many days without seeing him. It was as if his life had slowly started to include Gilbert in every way. He didn't know when he had first started to feel this way, but it felt so natural after awhile to be by his side. He wanted to feel that warmth he felt whenever they would sleep together. He wanted to watch Gilbert do crazy things and laugh together about it later. He wanted to be held in those arms and to feel those lips against his own.

Why did you do this to me?

Lovino began to hate the fact that he was so in love, it was too painful. How and when did Gilbert cast this spell on him? It was too much for his little heart to bear. Perhaps this was punishment for always complaining about life when he had nothing to complain about. Now he did, however. He could complain about how he learned to love but got it taken from him. And of all people to fall so deeply in love with, it was the very person he had hated the most. He couldn't even remember how he was able to hate Gilbert so much back then. Maybe if he hadn't of tried to fight back and instead tried to understand faster, things may have turned out differently…

"Ometto, we're going out to the New Years Eve parade, are you sure you don't want to come with us?" came a familiar voice that belonged to Caesar outside of his door.

"…Just go," Lovino lazily said, as he sat up from his bed. He listened to the footsteps descending the stairway and out of the front door, before closing and locking it.

He got up from his bed and walked over to his calendar. Turns out it was in fact New Years Eve. Well, soon it would be New Years day. It was around 10:30 at night and Feliciano and Caesar went to the New Years Eve parade to participate in the countdown. Lovino had forgotten all about the parade, and pretty much everything else. He'd only been depressingly living in his room for the past 6 days and barely eating. He was sure his grandfather and sibling tried to ask him what was wrong many times, but he probably shooed them off grouchily.

He glanced down at his phone and didn't dare to pick it up and check for messages. He decided to get his mind off of anything Gilbert related by cleaning his messy room. Who knew a room could get so disastrous in only 6 days? After he finished, he tried to look for something else to do fast before the waterworks would start again. Suddenly, he heard faint knocks on his window. He paused, thinking maybe a burglar was trying to break in! After all, he was the only one home and it was New Years Eve. People do crazy shit during this time. That didn't make sense, though. How would they be able to reach his second-floor window?

He slowly went over to the window before pulling up the curtains and looking down. Now he really wish he hadn't done that. It appeared that Gilbert had been throwing small rocks at his window to get his attention.

Great. Just fucking great.

Now Lovino was having delusions of seeing the bastard outside of his home! What else could possibly go wrong? Who knows, but Lovino was tired of this. He wanted to be left alone, so he opened his window and decided to tell that delusion to fuck off. Before he could say so, the delusion decided to speak first.

"Finally you open the window. Hold on, I'm coming up!" said the seemingly delusion that disguised itself as Gilbert.

Lovino watched as Gilbert began to climb up the vines that lead up the side of the house and past his window.

"What the fuck are you doing? That's dangerous! Stupid delusion!" he yelled, wondering how the hell it was actually talking back to him.

"Shut up, you'll wake the neighbors!" Gilbert loudly whispered as he finally made his way to the window. He hoisted himself and entered the room, smiling at Lovino.

"..I don't know how you did that, but stop fucking with me! You're not real," Lovino said, sounding more deranged than ever. Gilbert only raised one eyebrow at him for a few seconds before speaking.

"I am real, I'm the Awesome Gilbert! And this is real, too," he said, suddenly grabbing Lovino by the waist and pulling him into a passionate kiss.

Lovino submitted pretty quickly, before something in his brain told him that this was wrong. He managed to push Gilbert away from him before it would go any further.

"No… w-why? Why did you do that..?" he asked, as he tried to distant himself from the German.

"Because I like you that way?" Gilbert answered, looking as if he thought Lovino had already known that. "I've always liked you, that's why I used to pick on you, to get your attention." He then proceeded to close the distance between him and Lovino.

"NO! Don't.. don't just do and say such things if you're just going to leave me!" Lovino cried out, stopping Gilbert in his tracks. "You bastard! It would've been easier.. if you had just left next month without returning my feelings!"

"But Lovi, I'm not leaving you!"

"What..?"

"I'm staying here, of course. What's the point of going anywhere without the one who makes me happy the most?" he said, slowly inching his way towards the wide-eyed Italian.

"B-But! You can't! What about Ludwig? You're going to leave him for me? You can't do that, dumb ass!"

"Who says it has to be one or the other? I'll be 18 in the middle of next month, and they're moving at the end of next month. So I'll be old enough to take care of him myself."

"..Just because you're old enough doesn't mean everything will be peachy, dandy, and perfect! You can barely take care of yourself! How are you supposed to take care of anyone else? !" the tears from Lovino's eyes began to leak out onto his face and down his cheeks as he couldn't believe how reckless Gilbert was being.

"Luddy is mature enough to take care of himself, he's been doing it ever since Old Fritz first became sick! Those foster bastards never did anything for him. Besides, they told me that I could do whatever I want, and this is what I want," Gilbert said, as he had somehow made his way across the room to Lovino and now had the Italian wrapped in his arms.

"Still.. how can this work? You don't know for sure, damn it.."

"I don't care! I told you before, I really don't care. I've done awesome things my entire life, this'll work out. Many kids around the world don't have parents nor guardians," he said as he wiped Lovino's tears, "I want to be with you. Why won't you let me?"

"I just.. don't want anything bad to happen to either of you! You're always making me worry like this, jerk.."

"Nothing bad will happen. Have a little faith, will ya? Haven't you ever heard of the Christmas miracle? You and I made it happen," Gilbert smiled.

"Feli said it's only if you kiss someone you love-" but just then, Gilbert put a finger to Lovino's mouth.

"Shh. Let me finish," he said, brushing away Lovino's messy hair from his cute face, "Ich liebe dich. And if you don't know what that means, then I'll show you."

This time, Lovino did not resist or have second thoughts. Instead, he welcomed the sweet kiss with open arms as he had regained the love in which he thought he had lost. He realized, some things do last forever. You just have to work hard to keep it that way.

I love you, too... so don't ever let go of me.

A/N: And then Lovino said "My body is ready." and he lost his virginitiez. 8D lulz. I'll fix any bad grammar and what not later. I don't even know why I'm awake right now..

Anyways, I hope this wasn't too bad. Sorry if it was, in any way. Oh here's a short summary epilogue that I randomly just thought of!

Epilogue!: On Gilbert's 18th birthday he received a letter addressed to him which was written by Old Fritz. The old dude wrote it when he knew he'd end up in the hospital soon, dying; since he'd been sick for many years but it was getting worse. And in this letter contained the inheritance to all his fortune, since he was a rich dude that gave it all up since he was dying and had no wife/heir. SO he decided to give it to the less fortunate, and ended up adopting Gil and Luddy. So then Gilbert uses some of the money to go to college and gets an awesome career/job that I don't know about because it's too awesome! And he and Lovino live happily ever after! Oh and so does everyone else. :|