Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.

A/n1: For all the readers who directly or indirectly have experienced and/or suffered from Hurricane Irene… how are you all doing now? Are you okay? A lot of you told me last week the hurricane wasn't that bad, but I know the storm caused quite a few deaths… So for those who haven't told me yet… please, let me know how you're doing.
I also just heard something about a tropical storm heading towards Louisiana… that true?

A/n2: And for those who are curious but haven't asked me yet: going to the radio-station (3FM) was great! I met a lot of famous/semi-famous artists and DJ's and I even wiped the ass of the guy I had to "battle" against: some smug 26-year-old, who I seriously despised near the end of the show. Ugh – wiseass. In the end, I won some kind of trophy and a silly little book. Yay! 8D

A/n3: A reader (you know who you are~) convinced me to write at least a bit of Lovi and Toni's (and Feli and Luddy's) wedding, so… well, that's what I'm going to do!^^ Also, a few weeks ago, I was convinced this fic would end after chapter 50 – and that would have been kind of cool. Buttttt. It looks like I'll be hanging around for a few more weeks, heh… Yay for rambling!~

A/n4: And look: I have yet another new butt-song! Isn't it amazing just how many butt-songs I all of a sudden can find on the magical digital net? XD

** Bottoms-Up! **

Chapter XLIX:

Bacon Biscuit Blues
(Aerosmith)

Very much later that day (I'd say, around midnight, which actually was the beginning of the new day, depending how needlessly serious you looked at it), the door of Antonio's bedroom was brutally kicked open as Antonio and I made our way into the room.

While kissing.

And groping.

And rubbing.

And panting.

And stammering and stuttering and wheezing to each other in low, lustful voices.

'Mnh-hnn… n-no, we shouldn't, Antonio, we shouldn't… a-ah…' I heard myself gasping for air between a couple of heated kisses, trying to get my hands off of the completely naked Spaniard's bottom while he was, ironically, doing his best to keep them there.

'I-I know…' Antonio breathed against my wet lips, passionately kneading my butt as well with one hand while the other one was insistently holding my own hands on the soft flesh of his nicely-curved backside, '…y-you're so right, Lovi… hnmn… we shouldn't. Oh no, we shouldn'tgod, your ass feels so soft…and so… inviting…'

'N-no, st-sto – ah, stop it, w-we should… save it, dammit… save it for our weddin—'

I was cut off when he gave me a short but persistent kiss and pushed me on the bed.

'I-I can't help it, Lovi… It's your own fault… you…' Antonio swallowed hard when he saw the feverish blush on my flustered face as he crawled on top of me, '…you make this so difficult for me, you… you really should stop teasing me already… and you should… you should… you should let me have my revenge on you… ah, what sweet revenge that will be, so sweet… so very sweet… you won't be sorry for letting me have my revenge on that hot, sexy body of yours…'

'N-no…' I managed to gasp out, shuddering a bit when my always very lively imagination made me picture me and Antonio having painful and badly prepared but still fucking hot forbidden sex with me still being half-dressed, '…no, Antonio, g-get off me…'

'I really want to get inside of you, though…' Antonio confessed, '…get inside of you and make you feel me like you've never felt me before… but if you don't like that idea…'

He suddenly flipped us over so that I landed on top of him instead and clamped his hands and legs around me, smiling wickedly.

'…then please get inside of me, my love… make me feel you… like I've never felt you before…'

My mouth was getting dry as I looked down on his amazingly beautifu land willing body and for a moment, I felt like blankly nodding and wrapping my limbs around him just as eagerly as he had, I felt like hugging and kissing and entering and showering that amazing body of his with all the love and lust and sex I had in me, but then…

Then I remembered our pact again.

Our pact and oh god, our wedding night, that was going to make everything we would withhold now and not-withhold then so, so much better and so much more special…

SHOWER.

SHOWER NOW.

Quickly, I tore myself away from Antonio, pulling my hands back and avoiding his clouded, half-lidded eyes as I swore and tumbled off the bed, raced towards the bathroom, jumped into the tub and turned on the cold water.

GAH!

The freezing holy shit so damn ICE-COLD water that came pouring out of the showerhead hit me like a… like a fucking refuse collection vehicle-truck-like thing, and I let out a shrill moan of relief.

'Oh… oh t-thank god, th-thank god, dammit… thank god…'

I shivered and closed my eyes for a moment, feeling pleased as well as disappointed when the burning feeling below my stomach began to – pretty literally – calm down.

That was close.

That… that was very, very close…

'Lovi?' I heard Antonio calling from just outside of the bathroom.

I opened one eye and shot a sort-of angry glare at the naked Spaniard, now all of a sudden standing in the doorway, his hair a mess and his cheeks glowing with an embarrassed and apologetic flush.

'…a-ahahaha… sorry, m-my bad…'

XxX

I wish I could indeed say that all of this was obviously Antonio's fault.

I really, really wish I could say he was the one that created the sexual tension and the dramatic outburst that eventually followed after a whole day full of innuendoes and flirtations from his side.

B-but then I'd be lying.

Because…

…w-we were both at fault.

You see, after Hungary had left our sexual frustrations and us all by ourselves again, we had somehow, for some stupid reason, decided to spend the rest of the day trying to crack the other one, to trick the other one into breaking the promise.

Not exactly the smartest thing to do when you've just promised to wait till your wedding night as obediently as a couple of fail-Catholics can do, but since we're not very smart in the first place, it was bound to happen.

Besides, it… it started off with just a bit of playful teasing from both sides, like Antonio biting my ear and blowing into it, and me, moaning a bit in response to that the way I knew it would send sparks down his spine…

B-but that… that was just something innocent, really! Extremely innocent!

And during the rest of the day, more equally innocent incidents like this happened, like…

…Antonio, purposely dropping things, so he could bend over and stay like that for over five minutes while wiggling dat ass and complaining about how tight his pants were…

… and me, accidentally spilling tomato-juice on my hands and cleaning all of my fingers by sucking them one by one, lingering on the middle fingers…

…and Antonio again, suddenly starting to walk around the House naked, using the old "it's-my-House-and-if-I-want-to-walk-around-the-House-butt-naked-than-I-shall-walk-around-the-House-butt-naked" -excuse…

…and me again, reading books with… suggestive themes while making certain sounds as I read them, before suggesting to Antonio in a raspy voice to write down some of the interesting positions that were discussed in the books ("Ohh, this #69-thing seems nice...")…

Really, I-I had never acted so damn seductive before in my life, and to be honest, up to this point, I was enjoying it greatly.

I discovered I could drive Antonio wild by just running my tongue over my bottom lip, or by uttering a sweet compliment, or smirking at him in a very naughty "come hither" –way, or by merely breathing out.

A-at the same time, Antonio found out that the sight of his butt alone was enough to arouse me like crazy. He also found out that him talking out loud about me topping the crap out of him got me hot as well. And let's not forget about his breath, brushing my skin. Or his fingers touching me ever so slightly. All of it made me feel excited and turned-on as hell.

S-so it wasn't before too long that the quasi-innocent flirtations and sexual innuendoes became… a lot less… quasi-innocent…

At… at a certain point, we were even fucking masturbating to each other, while sitting on the couch, Antonio bluntly pumping himself as his glazed green eyes watched me pulling and stroking my lonely haircurl, me groaning and moaning softly with every single tug – and with every single, slow movement of Antonio's hand.

…y-yeah, we probably crossed a line there. Maybe even more than just one.

I don't know who was the first one to give up; I only know we were suddenly all over each other, touching and pressing our bodies together as close and as hungrily we could while making out like there was no fucking tomorrow.

Trying to stop was useless – we both found it incredibly sexy when the other gasped we shouldn't be doing this, because it was like breaking a rule, and damn if breaking the rules wasn't the hottest thing ever, so we only got more and more and more excited, until we eventually ended up on Antonio's bed, on the fucking verge of vengefully destroying our pact…

…and then I was the first to regain my senses again.

And to take a dash to the bathroom.

xXx

About thirty minutes later, after the both of us had cooled ourselves down – thank God for freezing cold showers and for Antonio's inability to pay his fucking water bills on time – we sat back on the bed.

Wearing the most hideous PJ's ever in a brave and very well thought-out attempt to prevent ourselves from glomping each other again: onesies.

That's right. Fucking onesies.

And socks. Grey ones. With holes in it. You know the ones. We just pulled them right over the feet-parts of our onesies.

Oh, the humanity.

If that didn't turn you off, you had a serious problem.

Or a maiden's heart.

Or both, really.

Anyway, Antonio wore a bright red onesie which silly little green strap-on turtles on it – he bought it once on a flea market in Barcelona – and I wore a bright, hellish orange one - also from Barcelona. With no shape whatsoever. I looked like an oversized bag, really. An extremely ugly oversized bag, too.

'I think you look cute, though!~' Antonio tried to cheer me up while sticking some fucking turtle-things to his head, but I didn't believed him – especially not because that Spanish asshole had fallen off the bed laughing his ass off a few minutes earlier, when I had put the oversized bag backwards and somehow had ended up using the butt-side as the face-side.

Well, I hope he had a good laugh, because the giant turtle I furiously stuffed in his mouth a minute later surely made laughing a bit more of a challenge.

That'd teach the bastard.

Naturally, after that humiliating experience, I swore to myself that when all of this was over, I'd murderously dip all the one-pieced nightmares in Antonio's House into that huge barrel of purple chemical acid I had found in Antonio's shelter once, which meant there was going to be a lot of fireworks when I decided the time was right to… hehwash the onesies.

And after that, I'd send the mutated, twitching and burning remains to France the Fuckface, just for the fucking hell of it.

And I'd put an evil note with it, asking how Pierre, that shitty white bird of his,was doing. And if he had seen that feathery bastard lately.

Oh god. Just imagine the screams of shock and terror that would tear through his House

It would be fucking beautiful.

A-and mean.

Really mean.

Evil-Dictator-Belarus-juggling-with-freaking-dead-bodies -mean.

O-okay then, maybe simply skipping the dipping-part and throwing the onesie-shit away was a better option.

But I digress…

xXx

'W-well.'

I cleared my throat and sat a bit more upright, clumsily folding my (orange) legs like a prudish female schoolteacher as I tried to give Antonio – who was lying on his (red) tummy and leaning on his (red) elbows – a sincerely critical look.

'Maybe we should… think of some basic rules.'

'Basic rules, Lovi?' Antonio repeated me, tilting his head, which made him look unintentionally adorable with that stupid fluffy turtle on his head.

'Y-yeah,' I nodded, a bit distracted, '…you know, to avoid breaking the pact.'

'Aha. Yes.' Antonio said. 'Because breaking the pact would be terrible.'

'N-no, it wouldn't be… downright terrible,' I carefully corrected him, '…it just… it would be a really big pity. A disappointment, really.'

'Hm-hm...'

The Spaniard made a sound of acknowledgement, but it didn't sound all that convincing to me.

I frowned, scooting a bit closer towards him.

'You… you don't think so?'

'Ah, don't get me wrong, sweetie…' Antonio smiled up at me, '…I think this whole plan of yours is very sexy – and, like I said, genius, of course. And the idea of releasing all of our sexual frustrations on each other during our wedding night pleases me more than the thought of disappointing you by having sex with you right now… but let's be honest, Lovi: I don't think we can do it. Or… cannot do it.'

'Wh-why not!' I grumbled.

He chuckled and sat up straight himself, too.

'I admire your motivation to fight against my and your own lusty desires, Lovino, but today, you saw for yourself just how bad we are at… holding back. I mean, we were about to cross the line, my love… it was a really close call, and if you hadn't run off to the bathroom, I swear we'd be having animalistic sex right now and not… talking and wearing these sexless things.'

Antonio made a face and tugged a bit on one of his sleeves.

'Look, don't tell me things I already know.' I started, snorting. 'I know very well it's going to be difficult to keep ourselves from… m-making love. I even mentioned that this morning. But you told me yourself you could do it. Remember?'

'Yes, but…' Antonio pouted. '…that was before you turned into such a seductive sex-kitten.'

I stared at him. '…a what?'

'Um… a… a sex-kitten, Lovi. With your teasing and moaning and moving…' Antonio blushed, beaming a coy, flirty smile at me. '…really, Lovi, your sweet sexiness drove me mad. How was I supposed to ignore that… that purring, rolling, smiling, lip-biting beauty in front of me?~'

'H-hey, you started it! You started… b-biting my ear and all! And walking around naked! I… I had to defend myself!'

'By acting like a sex-kitten?~'

'Yes! No! I-I mean… stop calling me a fucking sex-kitten, dammit!'

He grinned. 'Ah, you know what I mean, Lovino.'

'Okay, so… so no more teasing from now on, then.' I decided right then and there, looking around me and abruptly snatching some poster and a pen from his nightstand.

Antonio gave me a sad look when he saw that, but I didn't fall for it and ordered him to turn his back on me, to which he obliged with a deep sigh.

'That's the first basic rule of our No Sex Pact: no more teasing.' I said again, now with more confidence and while writing it down on the paper I held against his back.

'Is it really necessary to have more rules?' Antonio already started to complain, '…can't we just leave it with that one rule? It's already the worst rule, anyway…'

'No.' I pursed my lips together. 'If we want to do this good, we'll have to do it good.'

'Do it good, huh… I like the sound of that.' He snickered and glanced over his shoulder to wink at me.

I bit back a smile and gently smacked the back of his head.

'…s-shut up, you perv…'

xXx

In the end, we eventually thought of a few more Very Important Basic Rules for our equally Very Important No Sex Pact.

And when I say "we", I mean "I".

Yeah. Because Antonio didn't want to think of things we weren't supposed to do to/with each other anymore (since it depressed him and since he knew he wasn't able to think of good basic rules anyway), I had to think of all the No Sex Pact–rules by myself, and after a lot of thinking and sketching and silently gazing at that really, incredibly, way too fucking cute-looking turtle-party that was going on on Antonio's body, these rules made it to the Very Important Basic Rules Notes (read: the backside of that poster I snatched off Antonio's nightstand)…

Very Important Rule 1: no more teasing/seducing/flirting/groping/feeling/touching/licking/perverting/subtexting;

Very Important Rule 2: no more reading/watching/doing any other questionable stuff I didn't name at Rule 1 that could lead to the violation of Rule 1;

Very Important Rule 3: only serious/simple conversations from now on that were about safe, boring and everyday-like things (that didn't include anything that could have got something to do with sex), like talking about the weather, about whatever's coming on the television and, of course, about the economy – always a good way to scare a stubborn erection back to its original limp status again.

Very Important Rule 4: sleeping naked was a no-no. A HUGE no-no, since it could lead to an extremely quick violation of Rules 3, 2 and 1;

And… and last but not least, Very Important Rule 5…

…n-no more sleeping together.

'What?'

Antonio gave me an unbelieving stare after I had read out loud that last rule, his mouth falling half-open.

'You heard me.' I snorted, folding the poste—I mean, Notes.

'So… so we can't sleep together anymore?'

'That's what I said.'

'But why not! W-what's wrong with sleeping together with you?' Antonio stammered, '…I've pretty much always slept with you! For years! No… centuries! I already slept with you when you were still a kid!'

I couldn't help but shiver. 'God, it sounds so wrong if you put it like that.'

Antonio frowned. 'Cut it out. I don't mean it like that and you know it.'

'I do! B-but…' I suckled my lower lip for a bit, '…but it's just that… that was different. We weren't… l-like this in that situation. We weren't… lovers.'

'Ah, yes, I realize that, but—'

'And there's no way,'I interrupted him, '…I could ever see you as anything different than… than as my lover, so… so it's crystal clear things will happen if we… sleep together.'

'What kind of things!' Antonio sounded a bit snappy.

'God, don't you get it? I'd want to hold you, dammit!' I snarled right back at him, face bursting into fucking flames, '…h-hold you and hug you and… y-you know, the usual stuff!'

'So? What wrong with that? Go ahead, you can hold and hug and do the usual stuff with me as much as you want, Lovino!' he said with a sigh. '…god, you act like we never do those things, unless it ends up in having sex…'

'I-I know, dammit, but… but… who knows how long we'll have to wait before we can get married. Hungary… has to plan everything, so… well, let's be realistic here: like any marriage, it could take months before we could… say "I do"'

Antonio paled. 'M-months?'

'Months, yes…' I nodded.

'B-but that's…'

'Long, yes…'

'That would be…'

'Torture, yes…'

Silence filled the room for a minute or two.

'Well…' Antonio finally said, trying to sound optimistic, '…you shouldn't think like that! It's Hungary who's helping us, after all, and you know how creep—I mean, convincing she can be when it's about… guys. I'm sure she'll manage to fetch us a wedding within two weeks, just you wait and see!'

'Two weeks…' I looked up to the ceiling, '…that shouldn't… be too difficult… I mean, at least that's a… fairly reasonable time to wait…'

'Right?' Antonio uttered a sigh of relief. 'We can do that! I'm sure we can!'

'Yes. But… for the time being, I still think we should sleep in separate beds, though.' I persisted, looking at him.

He groaned. 'Lovi…'

'No, I'm serious!' I said, '…I… I really want this wedding night to be amazing, Antonio, and that's why I want to avoid anything that could result into another… moment of weakness. Or worse.'

Antonio kept silent.

'I-I know I sound like a fucking wuss, but it's a big deal to me. And… and I think it's a big deal to you, too…' I twiddled my fingers nervously. '…that's why we shouldn't… mess around with our promise like this. Do you understand?'

'Yes…'

The Spaniard heaved another deep sigh.

'I don't like it, but yes, I understand. Okay. Then we'll… just sleep by ourselves, then.'

'Okay.' I smiled a bit (but really just a little bit) as I got off the bed.

'One thing, Lovi…' Antonio started, watching me walking away, '…what about your insomnia?'

Oh. Yes. That.

Right.

'I'm not a fucking baby, Antonio. Sheesh, I'll be fine, don't sweat it.' I heard myself say with a huff, making myself taller as I glanced at him, '…heh, you better worry about yourself, moron. Think you can sleep peacefully without me?'

Antonio, sitting in-between the sheets, stared at me for a while, a soft smile slowly appearing on his face.

'No.'

W-wha… I felt I was flushing again and shot an angry glare his way.

'D-don't fucking lie to me, you bastard, you know you're a damn pro at sleeping! You haven't got problems with sleeping whatsoever! You sleep like a motherfucking log!'

He chuckled.

'Certainly, Lovi! I can sleep easily without you, no problem!~'

'Then—'

'But that's not what you asked me. You asked me if I could sleep peacefully without you.'

'Y-yeah, so?' I muttered.

'Ah… did you forget, sweetie?'

Antonio's smile grew even gentler.

'I used to be a coldblooded nation of war, Lovino. You were the one that brought peace to me.'

My face got a little bit warmer and I felt like saying something, but I didn't know what to say.

'So no. I can't sleep peacefully without you, my love.'

Antonio breathed out quietly.

'Never.'

I stood in the doorway for a little while, speechless, my flattered heart pounding in my chest and my brain desperately trying to process all those sweet and weird and loving thoughts that all of a sudden started bouncing through my head, before I finally made a decision and… s-shyly, but also very quickly shuffled back to that… t-that stupid Spaniard on the bed.

Then I swallowed a lump and grabbed the ugly fabric of Antonio's onesie with both my hands, yanking him closer to me to press a hard, but… but nicely-meant kiss on his already curled-upwards lips.

'Y-you could have just… just told me so if… if you wanted a kiss, y-you know… you… y-you didn't have to… c-compliment me like that…' I mumbled right after the kiss, hastily releasing him when I felt he was carefully – but not carefully enough – wrapping his arms around me.

'Ah, I wasn't complimenting you, though…' Antonio informed me, his voice a whisper.

I shuddered and gave him another swift kiss.

'S-stop it, y-you…'

Antonio chuckled, gently rubbing his thumb over my trembling lips.

'Stay here, Lovino. I know you want to. Please, I won't do anything "bad" to you, sweetie, I promise. Just stay with me.'

I stiffly pressed my lips together and stubbornly shook my head, pushing his hand away.

'…right now, I-I'm not worried about you doing anything "bad" to me, d-dammit…'

And before Antonio's ancient mental capacity had translated to him what I meant with those words, I already had let go of him and sprinted out of the room, as fast as I could, because if he had said only one more endearing and/or kind word, I would've jumped back into the bed with him and never let go of him for the rest of the night, not even once.

S-so it was a good thing I left, really…

R-really.

XxX

Believe it or not, but as soon as the Very Important Basic Rules for the also Very Important No Sex Pact had been discussed and set in, not a single mention-worthy perverted accident happened anymore in the days that followed after that night.

Nope.

None.

None whatsoever.

Which was… perfect, of course. Just… just perfect.

I mean, it was a very good thing we both were capable of withholding something as special and wonderful and enjoyable and great and addicting as sex for an admirable cause, and at least now we knew we… could actually do something like this.

Who knows, it… could come in handy for… other situations.

Probably.

Not that I can… think of a few examples out of the blue now, but it has to be.

Anyway…

So as I was saying, Antonio and I discovered over the past few days we could deny sex and all it's amazing forms pretty easily – as long as we strictly followed the well-thought-out Very Important Basic Rules, which we did.

And although it was… kind of weird and uncomfortable at times to act like a couple of ridiculously inexperienced teenagers around each other, it also was…

…I-I don't know, it was… it was kind of charming.

In a silly, goofy, yet… yet very lovable way.

For example, Antonio seemed to get even more motivated to make me feel special now that he could only touch me in a friendly, non-suggestive way.

He… h-he opened doors for me whenever I wanted to walk to whatever room in his House and he did his best to cook the best dishes he could think of, just because he knew that that meant I'd say "thank you" and smile to him and give him a small kiss in return.

…n-no, I never literally said that to him – i-it was just a little something between the both of us, d-dammit.

Aside from the cooking and the door-opening, Antonio made a lot more… c-cute and innocent gestures towards me, like… l-like randomly bringing stupid little flowers from his garden to me, and… a-and asking me to walk hand-in-hand with him when we went out to go buy some bread, or… or even something as simple as just… having a drink with me on the veranda outside.

…I-I liked all of that a lot, yes.

N-naturally, I… I acted a bit nicer to him as well.

I… I helped him more with the cleaning in the house, I… s-somewhat complimented and hugged him more often than I usually did, and… and if there was any careful kissing going on, I was always the one that initiated it, the one that started it, the one that had to make sure to keep it chaste, but still likable.

Easier than it seems, really – and that's why I actually saw this kind of kissing as a practice, to get better at… w-well, kissing. Not that I was bad at kissing – hell no! – but yeah, I admitted I could use some more exercises before I could compare the kisses I gave to the kisses Antonio gave.

Antonio didn't mind it at all and was happy to help me, of course. He even gave me feedback afterwards.

…i-it was always good feedback, though.

So yeah, even though it wasn't always easy to keep this strange little act up (and even though I've probably never jerked off this often in just one week before), trying to live according to the Very Important Basic Rules was a challenging and sometimes even very amusing thing to do.

Except for the nights.

I outright hated the nights, because… well, because I was the kind of wuss that couldn't sleep without Antonio holding on to me.

And so, I… I had barely slept the past few night.

I most of the time just… lie there, in my former bed, in my former bedroom, staring at the ceiling and trying to drift off with all my might, but failing miserably, time after time.

Really exhausting – you've got no idea. God, you should have seen the bags under my eyes. They were just like Antonio's sloppy onesies, only less hideous.

And now, now I was about to enter my already sixth Antonio-free night, a night that would be filled with tiresome sighing and reddened eyes and wondering if I should just grab a hammer from Antonio's shelter (in case you're keeping notes, yes, Antonio's shelter is a wonderful little shank, it's stuffed with lots of shit that keeps small children and South American nations awake at night) to knock myself out with it…

BUT!

I actually had found a good alternative thing instead of tormenting myself to kill time now.

xXx

Antonio gave me a concerned and skeptical look as I sat myself on the couch in the living room and turned on the television at the same time.

'So… you're going to watch television for the rest of the night?'

'I… I am, yes…' I nodded sleepily, determinedly wrapping a blanket around me and forcing back a long, deep yawn.

'Shouldn't… it be better if you went to bed?' Antonio suggested. '…you don't want your insomnia to come back full force, do you?'

I froze up a bit. I had been telling him I had actually slept fairly good for the past nights to soothe his worried thoughts about my sleeplessness, so I had to watch out with what I said – especially because I suspected Antonio to be aware of my lie.

I don't know. It was the way he frowned, I guess. All "yeah, like hell you sleep at night, you lying little sneak" –like.

Untrusting bastard.

'Tch!' I heard myself scoff at him, pulling the blanket around me tighter, '…I think I'm old enough to know what's good for me and what's not, don't you think so?'

'I suppose…' Antonio slowly said.

'And you know how much I love this show.'

I pointed to the screen.

'Really now?'

Antonio looked at the flailing noisy people running around on the screen. Then he made a heh-like noise.

'What's it about, then?'

'…what?'

'The show, Lovi. The show.'

'…um…'

I glanced at the screen for a minute.

'…people?'

'What kind of people?'

'…annoying people?'

'Lovino…' Antonio sighed, leaning a bit on the couch, '…what are you doing, my love…'

'Shush! I'm watching the annoying people, dammit!' I insisted, now completely focusing on the flickering television.

Antonio didn't fall for it.

'Just come to bed with me, Lovi. We're going to Rome tomorrow and I really think you could use at least one night of sleep.'

'B-but I sleep perfec—'

'Like hell you sleep at night, you lying little sneak.'

See? Told you so.

'…I-I'm doing just fine, dammit…' I murmured, not giving up even though I knew very well it was a useless struggle, '…a-and as long as this show's on, I'm not going anywhere.'

'Oh, is that so? Alright then.'

Antonio suddenly let go of the couch and walked out of the room without saying anything.

I watched him leave confusedly.

'H-hey! Where do you think you're going? Come back here!'

Antonio answered something, but I couldn't hear it. It annoyed me immensely, but just when I wanted to snarl what the fucking hell he was saying, I heard a loud click. Immediately after that, allthe lights in the room abruptly shut off, just like the TV and the DVD-player, effectively shrouding all of my surroundings in complete darkness.

'What the…' I muttered, blinking my (oh so heavy) eyes, '…Antonio, what's the meaning of this!'

'Oh, nothing to worry about – I just shut off the power.' Antonio calmly responded, and I heard him approaching my couch again.

I had to squeeze my eyes to little splits to be able to see at least a bit of the Spaniard and as soon as I saw him appearing right in front of me, I glared at him.

'Why did you do that?'

No matter how dark it was, I could still see his taunting smile.

'Well, I had to think of something to end your show.'

I made a face. 'By shutting off the power? That's stupid.'

'It works perfectly though. So now you're coming with me.'

I started shaking my head and sputtering and pushing his arms – that seem to be everywhere – away, but it was no use: all those night of hardly any sleep really kicked in now and I was too weak and sleepy and eager to stop him from lifting me off the couch.

'N-no, stop it, put me back, dammit…' I mumbled, still complaining and struggling a little bit as Antonio pulled me closer to him and carried me – fucking bridal style, what the flying fuck was that – up the stairs.

'Lovino, do you want us to fall down the stairs?' Antonio asked when I halfheartedly slapped and pounded my fists against his chest.

'N-no, b-but—'

I stopped hitting him and swallowed heavily when he slowly ran a gentle hand through my hair.

'We're almost there, sweetie.'

T-that felt nice… but then again, his whole person felt nice. Especially in the state I was in now. God, I had missed his smell and his body against mine during the night so much… so, so very much…

'Y-you're not playing fair, y-you… you…'

I forgot what I was saying and uttered a delighted sigh as Antonio carefully pressed my barely awake face flush against his chest – a-and really, all I could do was just… just shut my eyes and make the weirdest sounds that had to express my annoyance with all of this, although I doubt they were very convincing. I really doubt it.

Finally, we reached our—no, his… n-no, our bedroom again – and Antonio wasted no time in bringing me to the bed.

'This… this isn't good, you… we shouldn't do this, y-you… and I… we could do something bad… you know…' I muttered, willingly letting myself put down on the bed – with its soft, wonderful sheets, oh god, so comfortable – and giving him a suspicious and drowsy glare as he slid himself right next to me, wrapping the sheets and his arms around me protectively.

'A-Antonio, you…'

'Sssh, Lovi.'

He put a hand behind my head and kissed me full on the mouth for a while, shutting me up.

'Not going to do anything, my love… I'm already very happy to have you here in my arms…' he reassured me afterwards, smiling into my cheek before peppering it with quick, relieved kisses.

Then he paused the kissing and sighed, closing his eyes.

It… it was amazing, really, but right then, I almost immediately felt my entire body relax as I listened to Antonio's quiet way of breathing in and out. It was like a huge blanket of fucking rest was draped over me and oh, so this was what drifting off felt like again…

With the last bit of strength I still had left somewhere in me, I somewhat opened my eyes again and huffed, grabbing the front of his stupid onesie – still wearing it, wasn't he – to… t-to shamelessly snuggle against him.

'…I-I love you.'

Antonio stirred and I couldn't help but smile when his lips touched my forehead.

'…ah, I love you too…'

'…n-night.'

'Goodnight, my love…'

He gave me a light, loving squeeze.

'…good night indeed…'

And then everything finally went black.

xXx

That night, I slept well.

But I did have a really unsettling dream about Feli and Germany, dropping by the next morning to pick us up so that we could go to Rome together, "like a big and happy family, veeeeee!~".

Yeah right. Big and happy family, my ass.

Thank god it was just a dream. I mean, there was no way Germany the Potato-Bastard would make a detour to Spain like that.

Right?

Right?