Chapter twenty eight – Forgiveness?

Gilbert was chuckling to himself as he wondered down the corridors to Arthur's room. Man that little Brit had made things hard for himself. As per usual, Gilbert had taken it upon his awesome self to sort things out. This would be simple – and while he was there, he could also talk Arthur into the little favour he was planning on asking the Brit before he'd been burdened by his foreign sweethearts.

"Oi, Artie. Open the door, or I'll bash it down, and you know I'm not exaggerating." Gilbert called through the shut, locked and probably barricaded door. Arthur had hurt himself pretty deep for him to go into such a dramatic sulk. "Arthur. I'm not kidding – I'll kick the door down in ten… nine… eight…"

Gilbert immediately knew the counting had worked, as sure enough there was a sheepish, sniffle-y, "Piss off, wanker" from behind the door. The German chuckled, leaning against the wood and taking a deep, troubled sigh.

"Arthur, listen to me, okay? I know what I'm on about – I've done this an awful lot. So you made a mistake? So you've managed to corrupt Kiku and upset Alfred? Who the fuck cares, Arthur? All you need to do is get over yourself, and don't give a fuck what people think about you. You're a strong lad, right? Are you, a mighty Kirkland – a family almost as awesome as the Belischmidts themselves – going to fall down at such a tiny obstacle?" Knowing exactly what he was doing, Gilbert listened to the silence from behind the door, hoping that it meant Arthur was mulling over his words as oppose to completely ignoring them.

Sure enough, Gilbert found that his rather risky tactic of taunting the moody blonde had actually worked, as a few seconds later there was a click of locks (and, if Gilberts' ears weren't lying, the distinctive noise of furniture being dragged away) was audible from through the wood, and the door swung open, revealing a very moody, red eyed Arthur.

"C'mon, little man. Take a walk with awesome me, and we'll do some jobs, yeah?" Gilbert smiled strangely comfortingly, gently placing an arm around Arthur's shoulder as they began to walk into the corridors, "Whaddya say about coming on a little scavenger hunt with me?"

Not really caring what was happening, Arthur simply nodded, keeping up with Gilbert's quick pace. It'd been quite a while since Arthur had run off to his room, and the corridors had cleared, the students all making their way to the canteen (or in most cases their own kitchens) as it was nearing six o'clock.

Suddenly, Arthur remembered something, "Gilbert, you were calling me before, weren't you? Before all that crap happened with Alfred and Kiku? You needed my attention – what was it you wanted?"

Gilbert tried not to wince at how hoarse the poor Brit's throat sounded, "This is exactly what I was going to ask you! You see, I've got a little… plan on my hands concerning Matthew, but I need connections to help me with it. Seeing as you're my connection with Professor Wang in the Science lab, I was wondering if you could get me a little cube of potassium. Only a tiny amount – you remember that lesson near the start of term where I made purple fireworks with the stuff? I want to do that."

Raising an eyebrow, Arthur just shrugged off Gilbert's strange request, "Sure thing. Is there anything else I can help with?"

"Actually, there is!" Gilbert suddenly realised, "could you ask Feliciano for 'that £40 bouquet of rose flowers Gilbert bought last month' please? He'll know what I mean."

Arthur was too tired and frustrated to argue with Gilbert, so he simply nodded, "Sure thing. But where're you going then?"

Grinning, Gilbert span on his feet, "To finish my plan! It needs to be done ASAP, you see? But thank you, Artie! Can you drop 'em off at my room when you're done? I'm back with Francis – we temporarily made up." He chuckled, about to run off before Arthur's voice called him back.

"Oi! You can't run off! You said you'd bloody help me! This doesn't look like helping to me!"

Gilbert shrugged, "I have helped you, haven't I?"

Spluttering, The Brit barely stopped himself from swearing loudly at the cocky albino "And how have you helped me? Let me guess, by 'honouring me with your awesome time'?"

"Well, there's that, of course, but ask yourself this," Gilbert grinned, "Are you still crying?"

This time, Arthur couldn't control the swearing as he realised that the German was, of course, right. He had cheered Arthur up, even if it was a little bit. Slightly tongue-twisted and unsure what to say, Arthur just turned curtly, marching towards the science lab; "You owe me for this Belischmidt!"


Meanwhile, Alfred had taken to sulking in his room just as Arthur had. Luckily Matthew had disappeared, leaving him to his own thoughts and free access to the TV with Matthew's impressive film collection. Sadly, Alfred found that films weren't a big enough distraction from his uneasy mind and plagued thoughts.

What didn't aid his restlessness was the urgent knocking at his door. The person, whoever it was, had been out there for about five minutes there, knocking in a repetitive, and now annoyingly predictable pattern. Knock, knock, knock, and a pause, then knock, knock, knock again. Alfred had been trying his best to ignore it, but, unless he was imagining it, it was getting louder and louder by the second, and it really was getting on his nerves.

"Go away! I don't want to talk to anyone. A – N – Y – O – N – E." He spelt out the words, gritting his teeth and hastily punching the pause button on the flimsy remote, hoping like hell that he hadn't broken it when there was an omnibus 'crack' from the plastic.

The knocking continued, regardless of Alfred's dismissive words. Sighing, the American filled his lungs up with a fresh load of breath, ready to repeat his previous statement, just a little louder and with the addition of swear words, before the knocker interrupted him.

"Alfred-san, I need a word with you, if it wouldn't bother you too much." Alfred could tell exactly who the speaker was, even without the aid of the '-sans' and distinctive Japanese accent. Of course, Alfred growled to himself, it would be him wanting to speak to him, because there's no way Arthur would show his face.

Not wanting to look like a coward, with another frustrated growl, Alfred yanked open his dormitory door, and sure enough, looking up at him was the petite structure of Kiku, "Yes? Sorry, I'm incredibly busy at the minute, Kiku." Alfred spat, not giving a damn about manners.

Hanging his head slightly, Kiku sighed, "I-I wanted to apologise."

"What?" Alfred almost toppled over in surprise – he knew Kiku was polite, but fucking hell! Alfred didn't really want to admit it, but if he was completely honest, he knew he was the one that should be apologizing to Kiku. After all, it was Kiku who was dating Arthur at the present time, not Alfred. And as Kiku had claimed, he did kind of have priority over Arthur. And Alfred had been the one to kiss Arthur, completely ignoring Kiku's feelings.

Alfred felt like a bit of an asshole after thinking of it like that.

Kiku must've taken Alfred's silence in a negative way, as the overly-polite Japanese boy began trying to explain himself, getting very flustered along the way, "I-I knowingly began dating Arthur-san to get at Heracles-san, and didn't want to think about how the situation would affect you. It was unacceptable behaviour, and it is as you say – you are the one who possesses Arthur-san's heart; not myself. I have no right to be in a relationship with him. But…" Kiku broke off quickly, covering his mouth, "Sorry, that came out wrong. I have nothing more to add… I just hope you can forgive my terrible behaviour and manors, and you can accept my apology."

Blinking a few times, Alfred stared at Kiku wide-eyes, "Kiku, you're too nice for your own good." Alfred sighed, holding out his hand, "Look, I was the one in the wrong – Arthur's your boyfriend, and I did waste my chance with him. Of course you wanted to get back at Heracles! He broke your heart, right? It's perfectly okay to be annoyed at me if you want to be, and for that, I apologize, but I forgive you for the stuff you've just said then."

Grasping his hand gently, and shaking it with a very formal air, Kiku smiled slightly, "Thank you, Alfred-san. I forgive you for what you've done, although, as you say, I can understand your reasoning."

There was an awkward, unfinished air hanging around the two as if there was something more to be said, but neither knew what. Just staring at each other unsurely, both Alfred and Kiku started to get a little warm at their collars, not sure what was going to happen next.

Then, Alfred suddenly recalled Kiku's odd unfinished sentence before, "Hey, Kiku – what were you going to say before? You were talking about how your behaviour was 'unacceptable' (which it wasn't) and then you finished with a 'but', though you never continued… you just sort of… stopped. What were you going to say?"

Eyes winding and smile fading, Kiku shook his head repeatedly, insisting that it really didn't matter, and that he was only getting his thoughts and speech mixed up, "R-really, Alfred-san…" Kiku continued, "I-it was nothing… though thank you for your concern."

"Kiku, for god's sake – you never show emotion! This must be really bothering you but I've been in your position with things like this – it helps when you tell someone! You may think that they're just going to laugh at you and shit, but it never really happens like that. People will lift you up when you fall down, but only if you ask for their hand to hold, d'ya get me?" Alfred sighed, a little exasperated.

Blinking a few times, Kiku chuckled to himself, "You know, Alfred-san, I hope you don't take offence to this, but that was unusually insightful of you!"

"See? Everyone thinks I'm dumb, but I'm not! I just keep my philosophy to myself!" Alfred winked, and then returned to his serious voice, "But seriously, what was bothering you?"

"It would be unnecessary bother to get you involved as well, Alfred-san. Please, I am quite good at dealing with my own feelings – I know what I am doing." Kiku smiled.

Alfred sighed, a little exasperated, "Well, I'm not going to pressure you into telling me, okay? But remember, you can only help someone if they ask for your help, so don't go thinking that no one cares about you, yeah? You're a great guy, Kiku, and I feel terrible about what happened with me and you over… Arthur…"

A slightly cocky, almost confident smile mustered up on Kiku's pale face, "Well, Alfred-san, you haven't won him yet. Arthur-san is an equally amazing person as you claim I am, and naturally we both want to have him in our grasp. So, I will end our conversation with an opening to a little conversation – 'Game on', as you Americans would say, no?"

Chuckling, Alfred grinned, slapping Kiku on the back in a sporting fashion, "The game sure as hell is on, buddy! May the most worthy candidate win!"

With that, Kiku left swiftly, letting Alfred return to his room. Little did either know, both of them once rid of the other curled up in their rooms, and cried a little bit – just a little bit. Neither really knew why they were crying, but both knew that the tears were very, very necessary, and that they felt very sad. God only knows why.


"L-Lovino?"

"Not – talking! Go – the – fuck – away!"

"Please, Lovi, let me in! I need to talk to you!"

"For fuck's sake! Get the message! I – do – not – want – to – talk – to – you – so – leave – me – alone! That clear enough for you, you idiot!"

A new voice joined in at this point, "Hey Lovi! Who're you swearing at if it's not me?" Antonio said, skipping though from the kitchen, taking a seat next to Lovino on the bed. This was a turn up for the books – ever since Antonio and Lovino had had their little 'bonding' moment weeks before, they hadn't broken up once. They'd more than doubled their previous record of time spent between their arguments (it had been a week, but they'd boosted it up to three!) and for once, Antonio grinned to himself, he wasn't the object of Lovino's cruel words.

Jerking a finger towards the door, Lovino growled, lightly moving his other hand towards Antonio's as subtly as possible, "My stupid brother is begging for forgiveness."

As if confirming this, Feliciano called through the wood again, "Come on, Lovi! Let me in!"

"No! For god's sake, Feliciano! Get the message and leave me alone!" Lovino growled at the door, quickly returning to Antonio, "But yeah. He's begging for forgiveness, and won't bugger off. If you love me you'll get rid of him for me."

Antonio chuckled at Lovino's words. He'd recently taking to using stuff like that an adorable little 'love me, daddy' sort-of approach. The sneaky Italian had recently discovered that this was a very effective move to pull on Antonio, who everyone knew couldn't resist Lovino's uke, helpless and adorable side (which was shown very rarely.) Also, both of them had realised that this was Lovino's way of silently saying 'I love you, do you love me too?' without the entire fluster behind it. It was rare Lovino reminded Antonio of their love for each other with simply three words, but Antonio appreciated it all the same.

"Come on now, Lovi! Stop being so mean to your brother!" Antonio sneakily avoided the question, "C'mon, let's let him in and we can share the tomatoes I have in the kitchen?"

"You have tomatoes!" Lovino was momentarily distracted by his favourite fruit.

"Only for those who're nice to their siblings!" Antonio tapped the Italian on his nose like an adult might to a child. Pouting, Lovino curtly turned his back, but made sure to edge his fingers a little closer to Antonio's, trying his very best to hint that he would like it very much if their hands were connected.

Oblivious to Lovino's hints, Antonio grinned, leaning in closer to Lovino, "N'aww, c'mon sweetie~ I was just kidding! I'll give you all the tomatoes you want, because you're my sweet little Italian tomato!"

Lovino was about to start clucking and shouting about Antonio's nickname of 'sweetie' before Feliciano smoothly interrupted him through the door, "You twooooo~!" He moaned, "Don't forget about me! Lovino let me iiiin!"

Glaring at the door, Lovino shouted back at his brother, "There's a reason we're trying to forget about you, now go and piss off and snog your boyfriend!"

"Feliciano's dating! Who!" Antonio demanded, grinning, "That's adorable!"

"That potato bastard of course, who else would it be!" Lovino growled, showing his obvious displeasure in Ludwig and Feliciano's relationship.

Antonio tilted his head adorably, "Ah of course! But why're you so annoyed at Feli in the first place? What did he do to you? I can't imagine Feli doing something to upset you…"

"That's what I'm trying to find out, too, Toni! I upset Lovi in some way, but I don't know what I did…" Feliciano was probably hanging his head, curl flopping in disappointment from outside the door, and then called again to his brother, "Loviiii! Please tell me what I did! I hate arguing with you, Lovi!"

Narrowing his eyes, Antonio gave Lovino a knowing look, "Lovi… don't tell me this is what I think it's about?"

"M-Maybe…"

"Lovino! That's so childish!" Antonio scolded, but giggled and ended up tickling Lovino at his sides, earning girly squeals and begs for mercy from the Italian beneath him.

There was a frustrated sigh from behind the door, "Please! You two, I wanna know what I've done wrong!" Feliciano sounded oddly annoyed.

"Sorry, Feli!" Antonio giggled, "Well, y'know Lovi hates Ludwig? Well everyone knew that – but yeah, he's obviously upset about the two of you dating, but do you know why he hates Ludwig so very much?"

"Antonio shut up!" Lovino growled, but only half-heartedly.

"It's 'cause when they were kids, Ludwig accidentally stood in one of Lovino's crate of tomatoes!" Antonio grinned. If it was anyone other than Feliciano he was talking to, who understood his brother's odd love for the fruit, the obvious question of 'who the holy hell has a crate of tomatoes' would be asked.

Blushing furiously, Lovino attempted to rescue his pathetic-sounding excuse, "It wasn't just that! He laughed at me when I started crying!"

"Yeah, because he thought you were joking!" Antonio giggled.

"B-But! They were a present from my dad! They were the best Christmas present ever, and they were the ripest, juiciest tomatoes ever." Lovino declared, "And he stood on them."

There was silence for a moment, and then Feliciano called from outside the door, "And that's why you hate Ludwig?"

"More or less…"

"That's why you don't like me hanging around with him, and swear at him every time you see him?"

"Well…"

"And that's why you want to ruin what I really want?"

"I wouldn't say that, Feliciano!" Antonio stepped in at this point, sensing the conversation was getting a little dangerous.

"Lovino – you're so stupid!" Feliciano called followed with the sound of footsteps, and then silence.

Exchanging worried glances, Lovino and Antonio quickly ran out to the door, to see that Feliciano had ran off from his spot, now nowhere to be seen. Sighing, and not exactly sure what he'd done wrong, Lovino shoved his forehead into Antonio's strong chest, welcoming the embrace the Spaniard offered him.

Smiling down at his, Antonio pecked his forehead, "Don't worry, mi amor~ you and your brother will make up, right? You love each other, and if there is love then there's always forgiveness."

"You taught me that…" Lovino muttered, leaning up, lips lightly parted, eyes closed and balancing his tiptoes. Antonio smiled. Lovino really was opening up to him recently – yes, he was still the emotionally-stiff, blushing Lovino, but Antonio felt that he was being allowed to see Lovino's golden, gooey, sweet-as-honey personality that was hidden by his hard shell.

"I think I did quite a good job, if I do say so myself." Antonio chuckled, and granted Lovino's wish, gently gluing their lips together, and trying to forget about every terrible thing that was going on around them, and to their friends.

A/N

I'm back! :D

So yeah, I got back last night, but didn't get around to writing this X'D I hope it was up to scratch DX sorry for the wait! This is a bit of a filler chapter, but we have Spamano to cheer us up, so it's all good, no? (IhopesoXD)

Next chapter should be up soon, and I shamelessly add that, over my mini-holiday, I have been granted with some inspiration! I know writers aren't meant to include their personal events/thoughts/personalities in their stories, (what's a biography for, after all? XD) but I've just had so many ideas after going to that wedding! Q_Q I CANNOT WAIT TO WRITE THEM! X'D
So I'd say we have between five and ten chapters left people! Never know, if I write quick enough, I might conclude this by the end of the week!

Though probably not XD
Thank you for reviews etc. :') love you guys!
Tatty bye~