Chapter 10

Every other day, Lovino would be asleep in the library. There was no way he could get himself to lay down and fall asleep, so he distracted himself until he got to the point where he dropped out of exhaustion. He would spend his time either cooking or reading, though there were a few occasions where he would get wrapped up into something with a few of the other people in the house.

Every other day, Gilbert would go into the library. He would talk to himself and sometimes Lovino, though he never talked back. No one interrupted him for the hour or two he would be in there. They all still avoided him.

It was like this for a week. Gilbert would constantly look at that damn calendar on the wall, counting off the days he had left until he would be cursed to be a vampire forever. Just a couple days left…

"Twilight is probably one of the worst books I've ever tried to read," Gilbert stated, looking down at the book he had half opened in his hands. "Have you ever read it?"

Lovino didn't move.

"I figured not," Gilbert smirked to himself and shut the book. He'd only managed to read a few pages, his patience not exactly ready for reading quite yet. "What book are you reading? It's almost like you have a new one every time."

Gilbert knelt down next to where Lovino was lying on his usual couch, wincing at the sight of the bite marks. He tilted his head slightly to try to read the title of the open book. He was so lost in his own world that he didn't notice Francis and Antonio coming into the room until the door was slammed open. Lovino's eyes snapped open and Gilbert flinched. He'd been avoiding being seen by Lovino for the past week, not wanting to deal with the possibility of Lovino chewing him out. Or just having to deal with him. It wasn't like he hated him, it was just something else he couldn't deal with at the moment

"What are you two-" Gilbert turned to glare at Antonio and Francis, but he stopped when he was hit hard in the head by a book. He turned back to Lovino to find him glaring at him, book in hand. "What the hell was that for?"

"For making me fucking worry about you, retard!" Lovino yelled at him. "I've been waiting for a whole fucking week, thinking you were fucking passed out! And now you're just watching me fucking sleep?!"

Francis and Antonio started laughing and Gilbert glared at them out of the corner of his eye.

"So, you were worried about me?" Gilbert smirked.

"Fuck no!" Lovino quickly sat up straight, arms crossed over his chest.

"You're such a bad liar," Gilbert laughed.

"What happened to you being a melodramatic vampire that hates the world?" Lovino scoffed.

"I dunno," Gilbert shrugged, still kneeling down where he was.

"Whatever, get the fuck away from me," Lovino hit him with the book again and Gilbert raised an eyebrow. It didn't hurt, though he was sure that if he could feel, it would hurt like a bitch.

"That hurts, you know," Gilbert placed a hand over his chest.

"Like you even care," Lovino kicked him back and Gilbert allowed himself to fall back onto the ground. He actually found himself laughing.

"See what I mean?" Francis motioned towards him while Antonio tilted his head to the side slightly with wide eyes.

"Si, that is very odd," Antonio nodded, turning to look at Francis.

"Whatever the hell you two are talking about, that hurts, too," Gilbert sat up again.

"And how do you know it was offensive, mon ami?" Francis chuckled.

"'Cause it's you two," Gilbert laughed and slowly stood up on his own. Before he could even move more, Antonio had pulled him into a hug, talking in rapid Spanish that Gilbert couldn't even try to understand. "Mein Gott, get off," Gilbert shoved him to the side and found Antonio smiling like an idiot.

"You're starting to act like you used to!" Antonio said happily and Francis quickly came next to him, smiling happily as well.

"Right," Gilbert took a small step back. After he'd had that drink of blood, his mind was centering more around getting more. As long as he was far enough away from everyone, he was fine, but with them this close, it was getting a little harder to control thimself.

"Well, I'm going to leave this stupid love-fest before I get dragged into it," Lovino grumbled, standing up and walking towards the door. Gilbert knew he hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep from his time passed out, so he knew ahead of time when Lovino would stumble and fall. He caught him just in time.

"Maybe you should get some more sleep," Gilbert smirked and Lovino pushed him away.

"I don't need your fucking help," he snapped.

"Ja? Then prove to me that you can walk without fainting," Gilbert stated.

"I will," Lovino glared at him and succeeded in taking a few steps, but his knees buckled after a few seconds and Gilbert had to catch him once again. "Dammit…" Lovino growled, but he yawned shortly after, making it a lot less threatening.

"Screw it," Gilbert let out a sigh and swiftly picked up Lovino bridal style.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" Lovino snapped at him and hit him weakly in the chest.

"I'm gonna help you get to your bed, where you should be sleeping," Gilbert shrugged, his inhuman strength making Lovino weigh practically nothing in his arms. He saw Antonio and Francis snickering to themselves like teenagers as he left, Lovino still fighting back pathetically in his arms.

"I don't need your fucking help, you damn potato bastard!" Lovino yelled and Gilbert sighed when people actually paid them attention. He'd done such a good job making sure nobody saw him so far, too… "Put me down! I'll throw a fucking potato at your head, you'd fucking like that, huh? Are you even fucking listening to me?!"

"Not at all," Gilbert sighed as they made it to where Lovino had been staying for this past week and easily opened the door.

"I don't need you to help me go to fucking bed!" Lovino snapped. "Put me down and I'll do it myself!"

"I don't think it's a good idea to let you pass out on your way here," Gilbert pointed out and set Lovino down on his bed. "Now, since you hate me so fucking much, I'll leave you alone."

With that, Gilbert turned on his heel and left the room. He let out a sigh, closing the door and running a hand through his hair. He could tell that several people were around the room, though they were hiding, probably in fear of pissing Gilbert off, which made him feel even worse. He smirked slightly. He could freak them out even more and tell them that he knew exactly where they were.

"Oi, Eliza," Gilbert turned to look at the corner to his right and Elizaveta jumped. "I know you took those pictures," he couldn't help but laugh slightly. Elizaveta hadn't really changed all that much, though Gilbert had accidentally hit her a couple times in his rage in the past.

"Do you want to see them?" she poked her head out from around the corner.

Lovino angrily crossed his arms over his chest as Gilbert left his room. Just who the hell did he think he was? Making Lovino worry about him, thinking he was passed out. Who knew how long he was actually awake for, acting like a creep and watching Lovino sleep? Then again, he did seem a lot different than the last time he saw him.

He seemed…happier? More relaxed, that was for sure. He was actually laughing and smiling, which was apparently his old normal, according to Francis and Antonio, the creeps that they were standing in the library, too. Lovino didn't know how he felt about the "normal" Gilbert, but he was sure as hell better than the one that he got to see just a few days ago. Had it already been a week?

Lovino remembered that there was only a little less than two weeks left on the calendar when he saw it last, so that meant that there was just a few days left. If Lovino was actually supposed to be his Belle, wouldn't that mean that they should be in love by now, or however the damn fairytale went?

Just leaving it to Gilbert was turning out to be a horrible idea, so maybe Lovino would just have to take some matters into his own hands. Granted, he still didn't know how he felt about the annoying idiot, but it was worth a shot. The people stuck in this mansion deserved better than just being stuck in this stupid place for their whole lives.

Lovino's mind couldn't help but wander back to Gilbert. He'd been stuck here for five years with his brother stuck out there, left only to wonder what happened to him. Not even the damn potato bastard deserved that. Lovino hoped Feliciano was doing alright on his own.

"You better not be getting into trouble, Feliciano," Lovino grumbled and couldn't stop a yawn from escaping.

This always happened when he was left alone. He couldn't stop himself from thinking and he always thought about Feliciano or other things that worried him. He never got any sleep, unless he just fell down out of exhaustion. It seemed like Gilbert had caught onto that, too.

"Fucking bastard," Lovino muttered. "He shouldn't worry about me."

Another short chapter, sorry. It's just that with what I've planned, it's hard to get a whole 2,000 words out of it. Plus school sucks like nobody's business, so getting time to write this is hard. I've also been working on my Cosplay. And going to one of my 7 clubs, and trying to have a life…

Anyway, onto a lighter note, I'm going to be going to NDK Denver this weekend! Yay! I'm going to be going as Dr. Franken Stein from Soul Eater on Friday, Sapphire Birch from Pokémon Special Manga on Saturday, and Saruhiko Fushimi from K Project on Sunday, if any of you want to say hi. I promise I won't bite!

And please review!