Thanks to Carina Sicily, cAnd13ThEheTaLiaN, MonalisaRomano17, Yaoi-Is-Life-and-Love, apurehetalian, U, Mo and two anons for reviewing. And we've reached 100 reviews! Thanks!

Sorry if I post a bit later in the day. Work's been hectic recently. But I will try to update on my regular days.

Since I was asked, the edition of Treasure Island I have is Puffin Classics. I also have the Canterbury Classics of HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe and Dracula. And as for The Fix… Like I said, I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. I don't know if I should try selling it to a magazine, publish it online or check if there's a short short story competition (I know Writer's Digest has one, but last time I checked it wasn't time for submissions).

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 35

"Thanks for taking me, Ms H," Vlad said.

Eshe Hassan rolled her eyes, but she still gave a small smile. She agreed that it was a good idea to introduce Lovino to another of Gupta's friends. Perhaps, if he had more familiar people around him, he would be able to adjust easier to it all.

She recalled the things she'd read in the report sent by Lovino's previous school. They didn't have anything good to say about him, but there was a footnote, saying that they themselves no longer know if what the report said was true, or if they had misjudged him. But that made her seriously consider calling the authorities to launch a proper investigation of that school. For one thing, they hadn't been acting objectively when they wrote about Lovino. There was serious prejudice there. But what had caused the prejudice in the first place, she had a feeling that no one could remember.

And in the meantime, a boy was suffering. After a while, his gaze had grown distant. As though he was resigned. He looked as though he didn't want to allow himself to have high expectations.

But at least he and Gupta were getting along, and it looked as though her son was growing to genuinely like him. Perhaps, if all went well, Lovino could settle in nicely, and he could finally start living his life, the way he had been meant to live it.

…

Lovino had just put down the pen when there was a knock on the door. He turned to see that his family had arrived.

"Hey Vino," Feliciano greeted. "How are you feeling today?"

Feliciano and Marcello had finally caught on to the nickname that Feliks had given their brother, and once they found that they were alright to use it, they had started calling him by that nickname as well. Lovino was a bit surprised by how something so simple could give his brothers so much joy.

"Literature homework was a book report," Lovino said simply. "That's probably the one thing I'm good at."

"Like, don't say that," Feliks scolded, having come along with Feliciano and the others. "History went well, in case you're wondering. Like, I think we might do the best in the class."

Lovino shook his head. He highly doubted it.

"Well, I see the whole family is here again," Dr Fryderyk said as he wandered in. "Mr Vargas, may I have a word with you?"

Romulus pursed his lips, before he nodded. Lovino felt a stab of fear as the two left. Did he do something that the doctor didn't like?

"So, like, I started reading Lord of the Flies," Feliks said. "It's not a bad start…"

"Leave that until you've got the stomach for it," Lovino quickly advised. "It's not something for starting readers to read."

Feliks blinked in surprise.

"Like, is it scary or something?" Feliks asked.

"Not exactly," Lovino sighed. "It's a deconstruction, and kind of a parody, though it's become more famous than the books it parodied. Also, think of it as a social commentary. And it kind of struck a little too close to home."

"Like, what do you mean?"

"That book is about what would happen if a bunch of boys are on an island without adult supervision."

Feliks shuddered, and Lovino was glad that he seemed to get the message. As a victim of bullying himself, Feliks would know exactly how children or teenagers would behave without adults to rein them in.

Lovino's attention turned back to the door, and he wondered what the doctor could have wanted to discuss with his father.

…

"What's wrong?" Romulus asked as soon as he entered Dr Fryderyk's office.

The Pole smiled.

"For once, this is good news," he said. "Lovino is doing rather well, and he's already been here longer than standard procedure. I'd say it's safe to discharge him soon."

Romulus's eyes widened, and Fryderyk was glad to see the man smile.

"That's great!" Romulus exclaimed. "How soon is soon?"

"Saturday morning, perhaps," Fryderyk said.

"I can't wait to tell everyone! Oh, I think… Si. I think we should throw a party for Lovino."

"I don't see why not. I suppose Feliks would want to be there as well."

"Of course! It would be unfair to exclude him. He's done so much for my son."

Fryderyk smiled, and after some more chatting, the two made their way back to the hospital room. It was almost time for Ms Hassan and her son to arrive, and he wanted to have a word with his own son.

"Feliks," he said as soon as they reached the room. "Could we have a chat?"

The younger Pole looked worried, but he nodded his head, following his father out of the room. They didn't go too far, and only when Feliks saw his smile did he relax a bit.

"I wanted to make sure, before I told you," Fryderyk said. "We noticed how… down you've been lately, and we know that it's because your time with Lovino is being cut short. We also realise that it wouldn't be a good idea to leave you in a school that would completely ignore bullying."

Feliks widened his eyes.

"Like, what are you saying?" he asked.

"I spoke to Ms Hassan," Fryderyk explained, smiling softly. "Starting on Monday, you'd be joining Lovino at his new school."

Feliks gasped, before he wrapped his father in a tight hug.

"Thank you!" he shouted. "Dzięki! I can't wait to tell Vino! Wait… Do you think I should keep it as a surprise?"

"That's your choice to make," Fryderyk said. "So, should we get back? I suspect that Ms Hassan and her son would be arriving soon."

Feliks eagerly nodded his head, and the two returned to the hospital room.

…

It wasn't long after Feliks returned that Gupta and his mother arrived. However, Lovino's attention was immediately drawn to the other teenager with them. The guy looked friendly enough, and kind of reminded him of a vampire. But it was the sight of his red eyes that made his limbs lock into place.

Blue and green eyes didn't bother him. He'd seen enough people with those eye colours. But Gilbert had been the only other person he'd met with red eyes.

"Hi, Lovino," the new arrival greeted. "I'm Vlad. Nice to meet you."

Lovino could only nod, his voice fleeing from him. Vlad's attention was drawn to the piles of books around Lovino, and he picked one up.

"Lovecraft," Vlad said. "Which one's your favourite? I like Cats of Ulthar."

Lovino averted his eyes, and he found that it was a lot easier to have Vlad there if he couldn't look at his eyes.

"…I like The Outsider," Lovino said.

"Ooh, that's a good one!" Vlad said. "The ending makes it pretty chilling. Kind of like Randolph Carter."

Lovino nodded his head, though he didn't turn to regard Vlad.

"Oh, by the way, Yao sent these," Vlad said, before he placed a box on Lovino's lap.

Lovino blinked in surprise, and he turned slightly to regard Vlad. The red eyes sent a thrill of fear down his spine, and he quickly returned his attention back to the box, opening it.

"Fortune cookies," he said, recalling what Gupta said the previous day.

"Could we have one too?" Feliciano asked.

It was at that moment that Lovino realised that Feliciano and Marcello hadn't made an effort to introduce themselves. As though they were allowing Lovino this moment to himself.

"Sure," Lovino said, taking one and allowing his brothers and Feliks to take one as well.

"So, you must be Lovino's brothers," Vlad said.

Lovino idly listened to their introductions as he held his cookie with his left hand. He knew how to eat it, despite never having had one before. He just needed to check the fortune…

Though, he didn't really think that there would be a fortune – these were homemade, after all. So, when he cracked the cookie open and saw a slip of paper fall out, he was pretty surprised. He carefully took the paper and read what it said.

You are not alone.

The note didn't look generic and printed. It looked handwritten, and he was sure that he could sense that this was made personally with him in mind. Tears pricked his eyes at the very thought, and he had to quickly blink them away.

He looked over towards Feliciano and Marcello, who'd grown silent as they read their fortunes. The two shared a glance, before placing the strips of paper onto Lovino's lap. He looked down at them and read them as well.

They don't care about you, so why should you care about what they think about you?

These words sounded harsh at first, but the more he mulled them over, the more he realised what the writer wanted to say. It was useless to obsess over what other people were thinking about you, when they didn't even spare a thought for you. He'd stopped caring what the people at his old school thought of him, but the fear and anxiety had returned at the thought of the new school.

He noticed that the handwriting on the two papers was different, and wondered how many people spent their time on this. He shook the thought off before he looked at the other paper.

Believe in yourself and don't try to convince others.

Again, the handwriting was different, and Lovino couldn't help but compare these notes to ones he'd read in the past directed to him. There was a reason why he refused to be involved on social media. But these notes… They seemed to echo in his mind. In his heart.

Lovino glanced towards Feliks, who quietly slipped his own note into his pocket. Lovino knew that Feliciano and Marcello understood that these notes were written specifically for him, and made sure that he got the message. Feliks, having a similar experience to Lovino, could also stand to benefit from these notes.

"…Hey, Lovino?" Vlad suddenly said. "Do I… make you nervous or something?"

Lovino jumped a bit, and he looked in Vlad's direction, though he quickly had to lower his eyes again when they locked onto Vlad's.

"What makes you ask that?" he asked.

"…I get it," Vlad said, and Lovino detected the hurt in his voice. "It's the eyes, isn't it? I know they're not normal… I'm used to it."

Lovino wondered if Vlad's eye colour had gotten him ostracised before. He quickly shook his head.

"It's not… that, exactly," he said. "You… There's someone else with… red eyes."

Feliks gasped, as though he understood what Lovino was saying.

"Like, I get it!" Feliks exclaimed. "Like, it's nothing personal. It's just… the only other person he knows with eyes like that was one of his bullies."

Lovino closed his eyes. Now that he heard it being said out loud, it sounded petty.

"I'm sorry," Lovino said. "I just… It'll take some getting used to."

He could still see Gilbert in front of him, eyes like blood conveying how much he hated Lovino as he had a hand wrapped around Lovino's throat.

"I understand," Vlad said. "It's not a common sight, and the only other person you can use as a reference hurt you. Isn't that right?"

Lovino nodded his head, hating himself for insulting this new person that was supposed to help him adjust to his new school.

"…So, have you read anything by Stephen King?" Vlad asked.

"Of course!" Lovino said, indignant that Vlad would think otherwise. "The first one I read was Carrie."

"Ah, starting with the debut," Vlad said. "I personally enjoyed 'Salem's Lot. Call it a weakness I have for vampire novels."

Lovino glanced at Vlad, noticing the elongated canine tooth, and snorted in amusement. He also took note of the other's accent.

"A bit cliché, don't you think?" Lovino asked.

"Says the one who has The Godfather here," Vlad countered.

Lovino blushed when he realised that Vlad had a point.

"That… That wasn't my intention," Lovino sputtered. "I'm not the one who brought these books."

He realised that he had been watching Vlad for a while now, and Vlad smiled. Lovino averted his gaze again, though he could detect that there was some form of victory achieved.

"Have you ever tried Wilbur Smith?" Gupta asked. "I especially love his Egyptian series."

"And we're back on the subject of clichés," Vlad said.

"Whatever," Gupta scoffed. "The writing is good, research excellent, story intriguing… And someone who's read Dracula four times has no right to judge."

Lovino looked up just in time to see Vlad sticking his tongue out at Gupta, and he couldn't help but laugh at the friends' antics. The two had good chemistry, and Lovino found himself hoping that he would be able to get such good chemistry with someone as well.

…

Romulus waited until it was time to leave before he approached the teenagers. The group walked a distance from Lovino's room before he decided to make his announcement.

"Lovino's being discharged on Saturday," he announced.

"That's great news!" Feliciano said.

When he joined them, he'd placed his hand on Feliciano's shoulder. Marcello jerked away from the same motion, obviously still upset with Romulus for the way Lovino had been treated, despite Romulus's efforts to make things better.

"So, I was thinking of having a 'welcome back' party for him, and I would appreciate it if you could all join us," Romulus continued.

"That sounds like a grand idea," Eshe said.

"And we can introduce the others!" Vlad said excitedly.

Romulus turned to look at Feliks, who was part of the group, and yet aside.

"You'd be joining us too, right Feliks?" Romulus asked.

The teen smiled and nodded. Well, that was settled.

After arranging a time and explaining where the address was, the group separated. Romulus left the hospital with his two sons, but instead of immediately going home, Romulus had a different destination in mind.

"Ve, where are we going?" Feliciano asked.

"Remember our discussion about getting Lovino a puppy?" Romulus asked.

"Now?" Marcello asked.

"It won't hurt. I just thought that we could go pick out a puppy now, and get it before I go fetch Lovino on Saturday."

"…Why aren't we included in Saturday's plans?"

"I need you to help set up the party. I also need to do something alone with Lovino."

"What's that?" Feliciano asked.

Marcello was eyeing him suspiciously, and Romulus knew that he needed to make his intentions clear.

"I promised your mother that I would take him out for ice-cream when they got back from the hospital," Romulus explained. "With the accident and your mother dying, we never really got to do that. I wonder, if I did take him, if things could have been different."

The younger two Italians were silent as they absorbed the information. Finally, Marcello sighed.

"Alright," he said. "We'll set things up. Just… don't do anything stupid."

Romulus nodded his head. He didn't want his stupidity to get his son into the hospital again, or worse.

…

"A party?" Heracles asked the next day.

Gupta and Vlad had just related to the rest of their group about the party, and everyone was mulling it over. The first to break the silence was Miguel, who groaned in frustration.

"I can't," he said. "There's this family thing on Saturday. My grandma's eightieth birthday."

"And there's no way to get out of it?" Vlad asked.

Miguel shook his head.

"Well, I guess waiting two more days won't cause a lot of harm," Vlad said. "He's pretty nice to be around, once you get him to relax. Also, he seemed to like the cookies."

Yao beamed at the news.

"Do you think we should get him gifts or something?" Heracles asked.

"I'm not sure," Gupta admitted. "What do you do at a 'welcome-back-from-the-hospital' party?"

They were silent as they pondered this, before turning to regard Miguel. His head whipped around as he noticed that his friends were all looking at him.

"Why's everyone looking at me?" he asked.

"Well, you are the best at figuring out stuff like this," Vlad said, grinning apologetically.

Miguel huffed, before growing thoughtful.

"The thing is, we don't really know him yet," Miguel said. "For all we know, he could consider getting gifts from near-strangers to be a bit pretentious. All things considered, I think he would appreciate everyone just showing up."

"And if we want to give him gifts?" Vlad asked.

"Then go for something small, like chocolates or something."

"I'm actually pretty excited," Yao said. "Now I just need to make sure that I get out of the house without the twins realising I'm leaving. They're going to want to go too."

"They helped you with the messages, right?" Gupta asked.

Yao nodded.

"They know about Lovino, and I'm keeping a close eye on them to make sure that they don't blab about it," Yao said.

"What did you threaten them with?" Heracles asked.

"Cooking their own meals for a month."

Vlad snickered at that.

"I hope to never make you angry," he said.

…

Lovino was drumming his fingers anxiously, stealing glances towards the box of fortune cookies every now and again. He was tempted to open them up. To read the messages inside. Knowing that they were positive messages written specifically for him… It had never been done before, and a part of him wanted to convince himself that it wasn't a dream. That people that hadn't even met him yet cared more about him than people who'd known him his entire life.

He knew that he would be discharged the following day, and that just made the fear worse. He would be starting school on Monday. In a few days, the cycle would begin anew.

He wanted to believe that things would be different now, but it was only a matter of time before Gupta and his friends found that he wasn't worth being around. If he was lucky, he would only end up alone again.

The one about not caring what other people think because they don't care about you is a philosophy that I wish I'd adopted in high school. Basically, why obsess over trying to impress strangers or people who couldn't spare you a single thought? If they're not people you associate with, then what does it matter what they think about you? And at the same time, those that do care about you would accept you for who you are.

The one about believing in yourself and not trying to convince others is a Taoist quote. I actually managed to get the Tao Te Ching during the weekend, and will start reading it once I get the chance.

Speaking of books, I managed to get an order placed for a French, annotated and illustrated copy of Phantom of the Opera. It's a bit pricy, but it would be worth it! The bookstore I'm ordering it through only opened about three months ago, and it's a forty-five-minute drive away, but I'm already a familiar face at the store. Partially because I made the mistake of buying a later book in a trilogy and needed to order the rest because they don't have the other books on the shelf. Twice. Partially because I've had some long discussions with the staff regarding books. And I think I already spent about R2000 at the store… Maybe R3000. And the name is Bargain Books. Yeah… Well, I have no reason to complain of boredom. The classics are actually the best things to buy there. The prices are ridiculously low. R185 for War and Peace, andR60 seems to be the norm. A Stephen King book is easily R350 at least.

Wilbur Smith is probably my dad's favourite author, but the only books I've read of his were the Egyptian series. And I was in primary school when I started. My mom wasn't too happy. But giving a Jeffrey Deaver book to a ten-year-old is fine (for context: we were on a train tour, rarely arrived at towns, and I was bored, so after finishing the book she brought, she decided that it would be better to expose a ten-year-old to a crime thriller than allow said ten-year-old to remain bored).