Title: 100 Lifetimes
Chapter Title: Life 28; Kidnapping Love
Summary: When Romano finally agrees with one of Spain's corny ideas, they have no idea the journey's that that one decision will take them on, courtesy of a sneaky god.
Chapter Summary: Antonio x Kidnapped!Lovino; Lovino's just back after being kidnapped. Antonio has some things that he wants to say to him.
Rating: T for language.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia in any of its many shapes and forms. I don't even own all of the one-shot ideas for this fic, since some were ideas suggested by my sister. Others are mini ideas that I had for other fics, usually just a scene or idea. These I do own. But Hetalia, no.
Warning: Some language, my bad writing skills, another awkward love scene, kind of an abrupt ending, etc…
Characters: Lovino, Matthew, Ari, Yong Soo, Natalia, Antonio, Gilbert, Francis, Lukas, Matthias, Tino, Berwald, Ivan, Katyusha, Yao, Ludwig, Feliciano, an OC, mentions of Kiku, Mei (Taiwan), Xiao/Leon, Alfred and Arthur.
Pairings: Antonio/Lovino, Ludwig/Feliciano, maybe slight one-sided Natalia/Ivan.
Word Count: 6,091.
Notes: I really, really like these five (Lovino, Matthew, Ari, Yong Soo, and Natalia) being friends. They are my 5 band. I think they would bond together over being 'forever alone', or so they think. This is another story that I have more ideas for, but it was really this scene that stood out to me. I have another idea, also with this 5 band, but it's not involved here. Just know that I really like these five together~


Lovino groaned as he sat back against the wall in the police precinct. He was so over all of this questioning by now. He and the others had been in the police station for hours now, answering questions about their kidnappings. Lovino thought that he spoke for all when he said that they would rather just forget it and move on with their lives. Nothing reasonably bad actually happened to them, you know, other than getting kidnapped in the first place and taken off the street numerous times to be driven away by person's unknown. However, they lived in a community where a majority of the adult population worked for some government facility or something, so their kidnapping was technically a matter of national importance. That meant that they had to be questioned extensively, repeatedly, and by as many different people and government agencies as humanly possible.

Lovino wondered if their families even knew they were okay yet. Ari had asked earlier about that, but all the people in charge would tell them was that they would be notifying their respective families as soon as they could. For all Lovino knew, his brother could still be thinking that he was halfway around the country by now, when really he was just a few streets over from their house. That couldn't have been legal; Natalia would have threatened them with her knife to let her talk to her brother by now, except they were searched earlier and all of her knives were taken away. It was a shame; maybe then things wouldn't have taken so long.

Sighing in frustration, Lovino ran his free hand through his hair. He narrowed his eyes. Lovino looked around the room that he was in again, just because it was something to do other than have to listen to the same bull crap coming out of the agent's mouth again. He as well as the others in his little 'kidnapping group' were in what looked like an interview room at the local police station. There was even the little reflective mirror on one side of the wall. Who knew, maybe their families were watching on the other side. Lovino looked to the side; sitting next to him were Ari Steilsson, Natalia Arlovskaya, Imm Yong Soo, and Matthew Williams. They looked like they were in various stages of boredom mixed with annoyance, from Ari's very mild expression all the way to Natalia's look of murderous intent. Lovino caught Matthew's eye and they shared a look of frustration. They really wanted to get out of there already.

"-so that's what I'm putting down in my report. Mr. Vargas, are you listening?" Lovino glanced over at Agent Freeman, the agent who was apparently put in charge of their case. Lovino heaved a long suffering sigh and turned his head away again.

"Not really. Can we go now?" From the corner of his eye, Lovino saw Agent Freeman's eye twitch. Lovino had to try really, really hard to suppress a smirk at that. He figured, if they were going to be cooped up there feeling frustrated and annoyed, then the Agent might as well suffer alongside them. Yong Soo leant forward in his seat, picking up from Lovino's question.

"Yeah, can we?" he asked, twitching slightly in his seat. Yong Soo hated to have to sit still for long periods of time, so this must have been torture for him. "I want to see Aniki already, and Kiku, and Mei, and Leon-"

"That's Xiao!" a muffled voice called out from beyond the far wall. Yong Soo brightened considerably.

"That was Aniki!" he exclaimed, looking all around him like he thought that Yao might have been hiding somewhere in the room. "He did come for me. That means Aniki doesn't hate me! I'm so happy!" Agent Freeman frowned and leant forward.

"What do you mean, 'it means that he doesn't hate you'?" he asked, using a tone that made it seem like he was on to something. Lovino didn't like that tone; Natalia and Ari exchanged looks, not liking the sound of the tone either. "From what I have seen from this investigation, Mister Wang Yao has been extremely worried about you. Why would you think that he wasn't?"

Yong Soo shrugged, having given up looking for his Aniki for the time being. Since they were all handcuffed to their chairs for some sort of 'safety' reason, it wasn't like he could actually walk around and investigate himself. "Well, the kidnappers said once that everyone here must not like us since there hadn't been any sort of plea for our safety or a reward or anything, so they must not like us."

"Interesting," Agent Freeman said, writing down new notes in his notebook hastily. Lovino groaned; it looked like they would be there longer after all.

Ari sighed, tilting his head back tiredly to look at the ceiling. "Now they're going to think that we were mentally or emotionally abused by the kidnappers. We weren't, just so you know," he said this last part to Agent Freeman, and to anyone else who might have been listening in on the other side of the reflective mirror.

"Look, if I testify and say on record that I've had those sorts of feelings even before we were kidnapped, will you let us go?" Lovino snapped, tired of the charade by now. "You can ask anybody, I hate myself, I've felt this way for a long time, and the kidnappers had nothing to do with how we feel."

"The only contact we really had with them," Matthew spoke up, probably for the first time since they were in the room, "was when they pulled us into the van on our way home from after school tutoring. We managed to escape because they didn't expect Natalia to have a knife, and then we spent the rest of the few days that we were gone running around a city we didn't recognize, trying to avoid the people who were after us. A few…encounters did happen, but we always managed to get away from them just in time. That was when your officer found us at the car wash, actually."

"So you're saying that you felt that you were emotionally abused even before this whole kidnapping bit?" Agent Freeman asked Lovino when he was finished with his notes, not looking like he had even heard Matthew in the first place. Said Canadian glared at the agent but looked down, feeling depressed. It seemed nobody could really hear Matthew when it counted; it was amazing that the kidnappers had even taken him in the first place.

"Hey!" Natalia snapped at Agent Freeman, shocking him and making him turn to face her, startled. "Matthew just told you about our kidnapping, and you aren't even listening to him! Ball-sucker!" Lovino had to smirk to himself. It seemed that the only person who actually swore more than him, and was more random about it, was Natalia. It was weird, because when you first looked at her she didn't even look like someone who would swear like that. Before this whole incident happened, Lovino wouldn't have even thought that someone like her was capable of such a thing—it just showed that you really couldn't judge a book by its cover. Agent Freeman stared at her in shock, not really expecting the added swear to her words. He furrowed his brow and hastily flipped through his notes once again.

"I'm sorry, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of a 'Matthew' involved with this incident," he told them. "Are you sure that he's not just someone that you might have made up, like a friend that you could use to help cope with your situation?" Lovino felt his blood begin to boil, and he was sure that the others did too. It didn't surprise him when Ari finally exploded and started yelling at the agent.

"His name is Matthew Williams, and he's sitting right there!" He jabbed a finger with his free hand (the one that wasn't handcuffed to the chair) and pointed at Matthew who was looking a little awkward with the whole situation. "Don't tell me you don't see him, because I know you do!" Agent Freeman did a double take when he finally saw Matthew and openly gaped at him.

"H-how long have you been there?" he finally asked. Yong Soo groaned, slamming his head down on the table.

"Why does everyone keep asking that, da-ze?" he muttered with his head still resting on the table.

Matthew glared coolly at the agent. "I've been here the whole time, just as I was there when you had me fingerprinted along with the others, just as I've been here when you handcuffed me to this chair, and just as I've been here the whole time that we were kidnapped!" For once, it seemed that Agent Freeman was at a loss for words. As he kept gaping at Matthew and re-checking his notes, Lovino finally spoke up again.

"So, can we go now?"


"Yay! We're finally out, da-ze!" Yong Soo cheered as he stepped out into the sunlight outside of the police station, stretching his arms wide. "I thought we would never leave."

"Yong Soo, don't go too far away!" Yao warned him, shepherding the rest of his friends after his younger cousin. "If you get yourself kidnapped again…"

"It's not like I planned to be kidnapped!" Ari complained to his brother and his friends. "I'm fine; really, you don't need to keep checking me over for injuries Berwald."

"We can't take chances," Lukas said calmly, looking all around them for potential kidnappers. "Matthias, have you checked the surrounding perimeter?"

"Yep!" Matthias said cheerfully. "Ain't nothing going to get by me! Don't worry, Ari, I won't let anymore kidnappers near you and that fragile little mind of yours."

"I told you before, the kidnappers didn't even do anything!" Tino hurried over to the group, closing a cell phone.

"Okay, I just set up an appointment for Ari to see the psychologist later this week; he'll be meeting with him every Wednesday, is that okay?" he asked Lukas, who nodded thoughtfully.

"Better make it at least twice," Berwald advised. "At least for at first."

"Dammit, I just told you guys that nothing happened!" Ari snapped, feeling very embarrassed. Lovino was impressed; he thought that only he could actually get to that shade of red. "I'm not even a little bit traumatized!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Matthias said distractedly as he dug around in his coat pocket, not really sounding like he believed the younger teen. Matthias's face lit up when he found what he was looking for, a doll for some strange reason. "Okay, Ari; I need you to be truthful here. Where on the doll did they touch you?"

"Argh!" Ari screamed in frustration, walking as quickly away from them as he could.

"Wait, Ari! This is a safe place, no one will judge you!"

Over with Natalia, she was currently being hugged within an inch of her life by her older sister Katyusha who was sobbing about how happy she was that Natalia was still alive. Ivan stood protectively behind his sisters, glaring at anyone who came too close. He rested a hand protectively on his little sister's shoulder.

"It is good to see that you are indeed safe, Natalia," he told her. Natalia stared up at Ivan with stars in her eyes. It looked like she would have tried to latch herself onto his arm, or tried to hug him if it weren't for her older sister hugging her so tightly.

"I t-thought that w-w-we'd never be a f-family again!" she cried, squeezing Natalia into her bosom.

"S-sister, it's hard to breath like this," Natalia complained, still trying to reach out for Ivan. Ivan stood where he was, a content smile on his face.

"It's nice to have everyone together again, yes?"

Lovino and Matthew stood over by the side, watching as their friends were fussed over by their own respective families. It turned out that Lovino's thought about them being on the other side of the mirror was correct. All three families had been squeezed into the small room and had been watching as their interview took place—they had also heard the agent's comment about them being abused by the kidnappers, which they hadn't taken very well. Lovino was just glad that his own friends and family from before hadn't been there to hear or see any of that; he was sure that Matthew felt the same way.

"Are you ready to get back now?" Matthew asked in his soft voice. Even after spending so much time together, Lovino still found it a little hard to hear his new friend, especially with all of the noise going on in the background. Lovino looked back at his other friends and their families and shrugged.

"Eh, might as well," he said. "If that's what's going to happen to me, I'd rather it happen in private, dammit."

Matthew looked down, looking a little sad. "I don't think my family's even noticed that I've been gone…" he said. Lovino looked away awkwardly. They had all thought, one way or another, that their families wouldn't have been that worried or even cared. But Matthew was different; for him, they were all pretty sure that because of his invisibility, nobody would have even noticed that he was gone. Judging by what Agent Freeman had said about not even knowing a Matthew was even involved with the case, this was probably true. Lovino didn't want to say anything, especially since Matthew had probably thought about all of this before. Instead, Lovino patted Matthew on the shoulder and led them down the steps at the precinct to the road.

"Come on; want to see how freaked out my brother will be when he finds out he doesn't have the house all to himself anymore?" Matthew managed a mild smile, something that Lovino was happy to see. He considered the quiet boy to be one of his closest friends now. Even though they had different personalities, they had a lot in common; their younger brothers were the ones that everyone noticed the most often, they were mostly overshadowed by said younger brothers, they had a different kind of humor than usual, they were close with various members of the Bad Touch…

…wait.

"Aw, crap!" Lovino groaned, rubbing his face with his hand. Matthew looked at him worriedly.

"What's the matter? Did you forget something back in…there?" he asked, gesturing vaguely to the police station behind them. Both of them really didn't want to go back inside that place, after having spent a good portion of a day inside doing nothing. Lovino shook his head, looking around worriedly. They were a few feet away from the street now, just about to head off down Euclid which was in the direction of Lovino's house.

"I just remembered… Bad Touch."

"Oh. Oh…" Matthew said, also getting the implication that was made by those two words. The Bad Touch Trio was a group of popular boys who Matthew and Lovino had just so happened to have grown up with. For some reason, the two of them were favorite targets of amusement to the Trio. It was actually rather amazing, now that Lovino thought of it, that he and Matthew hadn't become friends earlier. He thought for sure that the two of them could have bonded over how they had to deal with the Bad Touch; certainly they had met before this whole kidnapping incident thanks to the Trio. For some reason, though, Lovino and Matthew had never really talked face to face until this incident. Lovino blushed, walking down the sidewalk with Matthew next to him. While it would have been nice to have someone to talk to all those years ago, he was still a little hesitant about some things.

For instance, he wasn't quite sure if he would have told anyone, even Matthew, about how he felt.

For years Lovino had watched as the Bad Touch, but mainly Antonio, would come over to his house so that they could hang out with Lovino's little brother. Apparently, Feliciano was good friends with Ludwig, Gilbert's little brother, so the whole trio liked to come over and mess with the two of them. Whenever Feliciano would be out with friends, this task of 'being messed with' ultimately fell to Lovino. Despite all of this, he was still rather close to Antonio. Antonio was always the one who would come over to see Lovino, just Lovino instead of Feliciano. This was something that never happened otherwise. It was Antonio who made Lovino feel like he was liked, maybe even loved. This changed, though, when he happened to see Antonio smiling happily as he talked with Feliciano…alone. Lovino should have known that things weren't always that easy. This had actually happened right before Lovino's kidnapping.

He wondered if Antonio even worried about Lovino more than just an innocent bystander would.

He and Matthew were walking down the street in content, companionable and even contemplative silence when the van pulled up out of nowhere. They were grabbed around the middle and pulled forcibly back into the van, expressions wide-eyed as they heard someone cackle to the driver to 'step on it!'


Of all the people to abduct him off the street, Lovino didn't think that it would have been Antonio and the other members of the Bad Touch. During their time 'away', Lovino and the others had been abducted, or almost abducted, off the street quite a lot. This was because they would get away from the kidnappers and then captured again and again. Sometimes it would be just one or two of them that were taken and then the others would come to their rescue, but sometimes it would be all five of them. They weren't sure if the kidnappers were just really incompetent and not very good at keeping their prisoners or if they themselves were equally as bad at keeping away from the kidnappers, but either way the cycle was becoming old pretty quickly.

That's why this time it was only with slight surprise that Lovino and Matthew found themselves in Antonio and Francis' arms, respectively, while Gilbert sat before them looking like he was lording over them all. When Lovino turned to see who it was that they had managed to rope into driving their 'getaway' car he scowled to see that it was Ludwig.

"Oh, I am so telling my brother that you helped these guys kidnap me," he told Ludwig. Their driver sighed in resignation.

"Feliciano knows that I'm 'picking you up'," he said, not sparing a glance into the back as he kept his eyes on the road. "If you have any complaints about this arrangement, take it up with my brother."

"No talking to the prisoners, Luddy!" Gilbert declared. "You're just the driver; leave this up to us."

"Oh, goodie," Lovino said sarcastically, moving around so that he could get into a better, more comfortable position in Antonio's arms. He really hoped that his blush wasn't that visible in the dark of the van.

"Um," Matthew brought out, landing all attention on him. He looked wide-eyed and very surprised to see everyone there, though for a different reason than Lovino felt. "Where are you taking us? And how did you know that we would be there?" These were very good questions, Lovino felt. He would have asked them himself, but he decided to let Matthew ask them. Plus, he was enjoying being wrapped in Antonio's arms like this, though he would never admit it to anyone but himself. He didn't know how long this would last, but for right now he felt like he was someone special to Antonio.

Gilbert laughed outright at Matthew's words while Francis chuckled and Antonio stroked Lovino's hair. Lovino really hoped that it was as dark in the van as he thought. "I bet you've had to ask those questions before, huh kid?" Gilbert smirked towards Lovino and Matthew, clearly thinking their current situation was hilarious. Matthew pouted, swiping Francis's hand away absentmindedly.

"Very funny," Matthew said. "You know, we could have been traumatized or something by now. You grabbing us like this could have given us PTSD or something," he pointed out. Matthew tried to move out of Francis' lap so that he could sit next to him on the van's bench seat but Francis apparently wasn't having it. Lovino watched idly, figuring that with Antonio's big brother complex towards him the result would be the same if he tried.

Gilbert's smirk faltered. Clearly, he hadn't thought about that yet. Antonio's arms froze around Lovino while Francis sat up, smile disappearing from his face. Even Ludwig in the front seat seemed to have heard Matthew since the van slowed down quite noticeably.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Ludwig said to his brother.

"Sh-shut up, West!" Gilbert snapped. "L-look, it's not like we—I mean, how could we even…shit."

"Don't worry, we're used to this by now," Matthew rushed to apologize. "This isn't the first time, obviously, or even the second time that we've been grabbed off the street." That seemed to make the Bad Touch even more uneasy.

Francis asked in a slow, measured voice, "How many times has this happened?"

Lovino had to think about it. "Eh, nine times I think."

"What?" Antonio shrieked behind him. Lovino winced at the noise that seemed to be right next to his ear. Francis and Gilbert looked horrified. Lovino felt slightly guilty; they probably hadn't thought that their joke would have had this kind of consequence.

"A-actually, I think it's more like twelve times," Matthew disagreed, not seeming to notice the mood around them. Lovino turned his head to face him, a frown in place.

"No, it was nine; I clearly remember thinking 'here we go again; nine times just isn't enough for them, is it?' when we were pulled in here."

"Yes, but you're not counting the ones that you were unconscious for."

Lovino scrunched up his face in confusion. "What, you mean from the time that that building exploded? I wasn't out that long, was I?"

"Well, we kind of had a tense grab-off while you were out. It was kind of funny, actually, in hindsight."

The Bad Touch stared at them in horror, not moving for a moment. When Lovino checked out the window to see where they were, he noticed that they were idling by the street corner. Apparently Ludwig had stopped the van and was listening to their story, too. Lovino glared in his direction. He tried to move so he could maybe slap the German teen on the head, but Antonio's arms clenched down almost reflexively, not letting Lovino move an inch. Lovino winced.

"H-hey, let me go already," he tried to say to Antonio. "I want to hit this guy so he can take me home already."

"¡No! ¡Nunca!" Antonio cried out in Spanish, clutching Lovino even closer to his chest than before. Lovino was sure that his face was flaming red by now, but for once he didn't really care.

"What do you mean, 'never'?" he demanded, trying to wriggle out of Antonio's arms.

"F-Francis, we really do need to be getting home," Matthew pointed out timidly. Ludwig soundlessly started the van up again and pulled out into traffic, continuing on their way. Gilbert finally broke his silence and started swearing in German.

"Fuck, that's insane," he said, shaking his head. "Hey, Luddy!" he called up to his brother. "Take us over to Starbucks; we need to get these guys some coffee, stat!"

"But I already promised Feliciano that I would bring his brother home five minutes ago," Ludwig protested, checking his wristwatch.

"So, you're already late as it is," Gilbert said. "These guys are in shock, they need coffee!"

"That doesn't even make a little bit of sense," Ludwig grumbled to himself. Louder he said, "Fine, but you are going to have to be the one to explain this to Feliciano."

"Yeah, yeah," Gilbert waved off as Ludwig turned down another street. In the meantime, Francis had pulled out a doll and was demanding Matthew and Lovino show him where they were touched.

"Did you steal that from Matthias?" Lovino questioned as Matthew glared at the doll.

"Where do you think he got it from?" was his only answer. Lovino grumbled to himself, trying to ignore how Antonio leant his forehead against Lovino's neck and was mumbling to himself in Spanish. Lovino couldn't help but shiver when he felt Antonio's breath brush against his neck. It was very distracting; Lovino had to tell himself over and over that it didn't mean anything and that Antonio was just worried because that was who he was. After all, it wasn't like Antonio liked Lovino the same way, right?

Eventually they were able to pull up outside of Lovino's house. How he was able to extract himself from Antonio's arms so he could leave the van he never knew, but that didn't matter at the moment. Lovino turned around and waved goodbye to Matthew. The quiet boy smiled at him and gave a small wave in return before going back to being fussed over by Francis and Gilbert. Lovino had a feeling that Matthew wasn't quite as invisible as he thought he was. As Lovino turned to face his house again, he noticed that Antonio was still with him. He guessed that made sense—Antonio probably wanted to make sure that he reached the house safely. Plus, he wasn't really that close to Matthew, either.

Lovino wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now; obviously, he should probably go inside to see his brother again and let him know that he was doing okay, but Lovino didn't want to do that. If he was really being truthful with himself, he would have said that he wanted to stay outside with Antonio for a while longer—he didn't know why, but he had the feeling that after they left each other, they wouldn't be the same anymore. Lovino didn't want that; he would rather be pining away after someone he was close to than he would not being able to see that person again. He knew he was being dramatic, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to stay with Antonio; he didn't want Antonio to leave him, ever again.

But, the longer they stayed staring at each other like this, the more awkward things would get between them. This was something Lovino also knew. He cleared his throat, looking off towards the house. "I, uh, better get going before Feliciano decides to call the cops wondering where I am…" he trailed off. When it seemed like Antonio wasn't going to say anything Lovino started walking towards his house.

"You're going to leave just like that? Again?"

Lovino paused and turned around to look at Antonio. Antonio had a strange expression on his face, like pain crossed with disbelief mixed with something else, something Lovino wasn't quite able to define. "Even after I just finally get you back, you have to go and leave again? What do you take me for, Lovino?"

Now Lovino was just confused, and maybe a tad hopeful. Wh-what did he mean by that? He couldn't have meant what Lovino thought he meant…could he? Lovino blushed, staring at Antonio in confusion.

"What do you mean, bastard?" he asked. "I'm just going inside." Antonio set his jaw and strode over to Lovino in quick, sure strides. Lovino didn't have time to do much more than blink and open his mouth in a silent question before he was hugged fiercely and protectively.

"I love you," Antonio said simply. Lovino froze where he stood, not quite believing his ears. "I love you so, so much Lovi. When I heard…when I heard that you had been kidnapped… I thought my heart had stopped working." That's exactly how Lovino felt now, but for whole other reasons entirely. He felt his eyes start to water and blinked furiously. He wouldn't cry, he would not let himself cry over something like this. It didn't matter if these were the words that he had been dying to hear for ages now, he would come out of this like a man! Antonio continued talking, stroking Lovino's hair absently. "Of course, a lot of people were upset that you—and the others—had disappeared like that. But we hadn't heard anything; at first, the popular theory around the town was that the five of you had run away together; it wasn't until later, when the cops were called in and they reviewed all of the surveillance tape around the place that we knew the truth." Ah, government controled towns. You just had to love them for their distinct lack of privacy. True, in some cases, they were pretty helpful-like this case-but there was still the principle of the matter.

"Did you think that I had run away?" Lovino asked quietly, grabbing onto Antonio's shirt. He wasn't sure which answer he wanted to hear.

"Maybe at first," Antonio admitted in a voice just as quiet as Lovino's had been. "I could tell for a while that you hadn't been happy here. I had hoped…well, I had hoped that maybe you didn't leave because of me." Lovino snorted. If anything, Antonio was part of the reason he had even stayed as long as he did. He wouldn't admit it now, definitely not after what had just happened to him, but he had been contemplating just getting up one day and leaving. Now, though, after what he had just been through Lovino couldn't even think about doing that. It wasn't just because he and Antonio were apparently confessing to each other, either. No, ever since his experience, he had really bonded with his new friends. They were his reason for staying, and he knew that he was part of the reason that they were staying sane; especially after everybody fussing over them now.

"I could never leave because of you," Lovino breathed. "I've kind of had a thing for you for a couple of years now, anyway. I think I'm used to you and your stupidity, so don't blame yourself." Antonio's arms had tightened around Lovino briefly when he finally confessed back. The tears, which Lovino had desperately been trying to keep at bay, fell without stop. Lovino couldn't bring himself to care, though. He had what he wanted, right here in this very moment; who cared about a few spare tears anyway? "I'm definitely not going anywhere any time soon after this," he decided.

Unbeknownst to Lovino and his new lover, Feliciano was watching this all from the living room window. He had a fond smile on his face as he clenched the curtain in his hand tighter.

"I'm happy for you, fratello," he said to no one. "I'm glad you found your special someone." Lovino, almost as if he knew what his brother was saying, agreed with him.


Things looked up for Lovino and his new friends after their little 'adventure'. Ari's brother and his friends still wouldn't leave him alone, but they let up more which was about all he could expect to get. Natalia's relationship with her own siblings grew much healthier, as did Yong Soo's. As for Matthew-his brother, Francis and Arthur wouldn't stop fussing over him for two weeks after he finally came home. Matthew enjoyed all of this special treatment quite well, but even he agreed enough was enough. When the others still protested, Matthew brought out his old hockey stick; they stopped bothering him soon after. Matthew wondered why he had ever quit his favorite sport to begin with.

After Antonio and Lovino's confession, they tried dating for a while and decided that it suited them. Antonio never quite got over Lovino's kidnapping, so every now and then when it looked like there was some kind of criminal activity going on he would suddenly get overprotective of his boyfriend/future fiancé/future husband. Lovino was not amused, though he was secretly happy to be pampered so much. He had thought that things would never work out between them for so long. He was grateful for any sign of affection from the older boy.

They eventually got married, which made them both very happy. Antonio now had more reasons than ever to pamper and spoil Lovino, and Lovino now had a binding promise that Antonio would forever be his. They both thought that they got the best end out of the agreement.


End of Chapter Twenty-Nine; Next Up—We're Going For The Gold!