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Chapter Twenty-Four: Bello e Beux!

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WARNING: Heavy doses of Feliciano/Matthew in this chapter, mon chers.

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Love was a fickle thing. Feliciano didn't like that everyone around him was being so… stubborn. But he shouldn't be thinking that. He himself… well, he couldn't think straight around Ludwig, was his problem. There goes his stubbornness again… So when he saw Ivan and Francis come in to Arthur's Bar that night, he mentally snapped.

"Ciao, Ivan, ciao, Francis!" he yelled from the bar. Matthew had told Feliciano that Alfred had told the Canadian that the American had called Ivan last night, but Matthew had inferred that they had discussed Francis and Ivan… mostly. Feliciano was going to do something about it, with Matthew, much to the Canadian's dismay.

"Bonjour, Ivan, bonjour, Francis!" Matthew said.

Arthur tensed, as did Kiku. Arthur snaked his hand toward his cell phone, but something about Ivan made him pause as he remembered Alfred telling him about the phone call the other night.

Ivan and Francis sat at the barstools. Francis nodded at Arthur, but Feliciano had something ready for him in ten seconds. Matthew brought his tray back to the bar. Kissing Feliciano's cheek for the girls once behind the bar, Matthew poured some vodka for the Russian man, winking at him as Feliciano went to sit on Francis' lap. The girls gasped.

"Feli… what are you doing?" Matthew suddenly asked, acting hurt.

"I always return to you, don't I, bella?" Feliciano asked.

"Feliciano, don't call me that if you're going to cheat on me to my face," Matthew almost growled. The girls were eating this up.

Feliciano grinned, "Come here, Matthew… I'm big enough for the both of you…" Feliciano replied, smiling seductively toward the Canadian.

Matthew tried to resist, but finally, he came around toward Feliciano and Feliciano jumped off of Francis's lap and onto his fake-lover. The girls squealed.

"I'm sorry, Mattie… I thought I could resist you," Feliciano replied, nuzzling with Matthew. They were lying on top of each other on the ground, with the girls squealing all around them. Kiku and Arthur looked at each other to try and figure out what they were planning, but when they saw Feliciano and Matthew look at Francis and Ivan, they figured it all out.

"But what about Francis, Feli? I heard you whisper his name all last night when you fell asleep," Matthew nearly whined, trying to get up.

Feliciano looked at him and then kissed his nose, "It was a nightmare, whatever you heard, mi amante…"

"A nightmare, Feliciano? I'm more hurt that Matthew is…" Francis said, knowing that Feliciano and Matthew were merely an act.

"Well it's true, Francis… I never loved you. Even when I met you in Monaco all those years ago. I was young…" Feliciano growled. Francis got the point that there was some truth in what Feliciano was saying.

Kiku smiled as he figured out what the fake-lovers were doing. Feliciano stood up, helping his fake-lover off the floor and tightening his grip on the blonde's hand.

"No one loves you, Francis," Feliciano spat.

Matthew looked at his fake-lover appalled, "Feliciano, I've never seen you like this. What's up with you?"

Feliciano hushed him with a finger to the Canadian's lips. "He's trying to tear us apart, bella… I must protect you from him…"

He reminds me of someone… Arthur thought, trying to put his finger on a name.

"Feli… I love it when you become overprotective of me," Matthew said, playing with Feliciano's tie and breathing into the other boy's chest. The girls had forgotten their empty glasses, and even their boyfriends and male companions were absolutely enthralled in the drama unfolding.

He's being Alfred! Came the name floating in Arthur's memory.

"Hush, Mattie~" Feli replied, taking a deep sniff of Matthew's blonde hair, "But it's true. No one. Loves. You. Francis…"

Francis was about to tear up when Ivan finally caught on at what he was supposed to do, "Francis… don't listen to him. I'm here, aren't I?"

"But do you… do you love him, Ivan?" Mattie asked, twirling the hair that always stuck out and curled. He looked up at Ivan with the cutest look possible and… it didn't work on either Francis or Ivan.

Ivan gazed down at Francis and took him up in his arms, "I do lofe him, Matvey… vhen the vorld turns its back on you, Francis… I'm here…"

"Bellisimo!" Feliciano shouted.

"Tres beux!" Matthew shouted.

Francis broke out of the hypnotizing affect of Ivan's eyes and shot a glare at Feliciano and Matthew, perhaps to just get back at them. Matthew had a feeling Francis would begin to resent them…

"If you're so excited about us, why don't you actually kiss each other? Have your fans ever seen that?" Francis spat.

… But Matthew hadn't had a feeling about that.

The girls squealed and the more out-spoken females (Elizabeta and Natalia) shouted, "Please do! Please do! Don't mind us!"

Feliciano and Matthew looked at each other, somewhat shocked at Francis's words. Even on stage, they had never had to kiss each other. They were always put in male roles, for one, and also, even in the performances of Spring Awakening they had never even had to provocatively touch each other. But everybody, Kiku and Arthur included, had their eyes transfixed on the fake-couple.

Feliciano sighed, "It's not as if we don't do it after hours, bella…"

Matthew's eyes said, But we don't!

Feliciano's eyes said, The customer is always right.

And so, slowly, Matthew and Feliciano leaned in and kissed each other. Remembering his stage-kiss with Alfred, Matthew knew to make it look real, and just grin-and-bear-it. Feliciano had been in countless classes at his artsy high-school where he had to kiss a girl… well… Mattie had been a girl to Feli (and vice-versa… thus the nickname 'bella' for Matthew…) for the first few hours of their relationship.

When they parted, the room was silent. Francis was defeated. He deflated in Ivan's arms and quietly asked to be taken home. Ivan smiled lightly in the fake-couple's direction and mouthed, "Good staging," before carrying Francis back to his car and getting behind the wheel.

Kiku and Arthur began clapping, and the customers all joined in, squealing and putting their hands to their mouths as if they, too, thought that Matthew and Feliciano wouldn't do it.

Feliciano and Matthew simply hugged each other, kissed each other on the lips again, and continued their actual jobs as barmaids.

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A fast update, along with some very heavy doses of Canada/N. Italy. I'm glad that America and Germany don't mind this fake relationship, because they would be pissed if it was real... (In my mind, the kiss was more epic...) I should stop writing crack pairs.

And now I dash back in the closet to my Nation of Anastasie Rossi. Bah! Oh, and pretty-please-with-Matthew/Alfred-on-top review~ I still get my mail even when in my secretly-located-somewhere-in-my-closet (no gay jokes, please). REVIEWS. ARE. LOVED. As are you, pretty reader /pets/.

I feel flamboyant, if you couldn't tell. A little Mattie/Feli romance does that to you.

Ciao~ /dashes into the closet/

~Ana~