Other than that incident, the rest of the week seemed to have passed without much issues. Lovino was still confused about Antonio, though, as the Spaniard continued to be nice to him no matter how he acted or how annoyed he was. Lovino would call them classmates, and refused to call them friends, but anyone who knew him knew that it was more of a compliment than an insult to be called that. Friday had come quickly, and once again Lovino was stuck in the English class.

A routine had started to form, he would get there and Antonio and Francis would greet him. Antonio would ask how his previous class had been, and then the lesson would start. Antonio would mainly talk to Francis and Laura, trying not to make Lovino annoyed at him, apart from occasionally talking to him if he seemed to be stuck or have trouble remembering one of the words.

That day it soon became obvious that things would be different, as Antonio continued talking to him past the first greeting. That only made Lovino more confused about his feelings. Sure, he never liked it when Antonio only really spoke to the other two—even if the Spaniard was trying to be nice by it and not annoy him—but he wasn't sure how to react to the attention being placed on him. He mainly stayed quiet, but occasionally would speak up, and it was kind of obvious that he wasn't used to it. It wasn't the same as with Matthew and Gilbert, he had known them for years and was comfortable with them. Antonio was making him feel all these new emotions that he couldn't label, and he needed time to adjust to it.

It was all just so overwhelming to him, and the fact that he couldn't stop noticing all these little details that he shouldn't have been bothered about didn't help. The way that Antonio's eyes always seemed so vibrant and curious about everything, how his expression never held any annoyance despite the way that he acted, and the way that his wings would shuffle in excitement whenever he was talking about something that he was excited about. All the little details, Lovino noticed, and he didn't have a clue as to why. This guy, who he'd known for not even two weeks, just came flying into his life and didn't seem to be leaving anytime soon.

After a while the teacher got the class under control again and Antonio fell quiet, though out of the corners of his eyes, Lovino would have sworn he saw the other look at him a few times. It made him blush ever so slightly, which luckily nobody seemed to pick up on since they were busy listening to the teacher talk to them about a group project. They were assigned groups, and almost as if it were fate, Lovino was in a group with a certain Spaniard. The problem was, it was groups of three, and Ivan of all people was the third member.

Lovino was naturally a more skittish person, he might claim to not be intimidated by people but usually was, particularly taller and bulkier people like Ludwig, Sadik and Ivan. As much as Matthew attempted to persuade him in the past that there was no need to be worried about him and that the Russian was just misunderstood, he found it hard to believe. As Francis and Laura moved away to a different desk with their respective group members, Ivan was coming closer and it forced Lovino to rely on the hope that Matthew was right.

The Russian man spoke up first, a friendly smile on his face. "This will be a good group, da? Matvey tells me that you two work hard and get good marks in English."

"I wouldn't say that," Antonio told him sheepishly, returning the friendly smile to Ivan. He'd heard of the rumours of course, but he didn't like to assume what people were like and wanted to get to know them personally. "Words just seem to interest me, they hold a special meaning and can convey so many things in such a variety of ways. I just want to enjoy that and so it's fun to put the effort in."

"I'm really not that good at all, but I'll put effort in and shit like that. Just a warning, if you approach me and I tell you to fuck off it's not a personal thing." Lovino told him, sighing and running a hand through his hair.

Ivan chuckled at the last part and nodded. "Well, it does not matter if you are smart or not. If you do your part and out effort in then we will have no issues. I dislike it when group members make me do all the work."

"Don't doubt yourself, Lovi! You're really smart when you don't get caught up with remembering what words to use and stuff like that," he told him with a smile, placing his hand on the Italian's shoulder before turning to Ivan. "And of course, we can divide the work up. I'll make sure that Lovi and I get it done on time."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, bastard." Lovino gently took his hand and moved it off his shoulder, his touch lingering for a moment longer than it needed to before he dropped it. He blushed and looked down, which seemed to amuse Ivan, who simply went on to talk about the project.

"Now, let us get started. I believe that the theme of betrayal is the one our group was assigned to present on, da? In the novel, a person that the main character was friends with leaves him to join up with people that were his rivals. Why is this important?" Ivan asked, already knowing a reason why it was important. He wanted to hear the opinion of the other two people in the group first.

Lovino thought for a moment, hesitantly speaking up. "It's the driving force behind the protagonist's decision to run away. The emotion that he feels affect his rationality and cause him to believe that it would be best for him to leave."

"And that meant that later on he was hesitant to accept his friend when he comes to bring him home, because he feels like he is of lesser importance and there is no point in returning."

"Da, that is correct," Ivan told them, clapping softly and beaming. "This will certainly be a good group. Oh, and Lovino, I will be with Matvey in the library at lunch to work on the history assessment. I know Gilbert gets jealous easily, so do tell him that I have my eyes set on someone else and that I am only friends."

Lovino looked a bit curious at his words about already liking someone and nodded, not asking anything because he didn't want to pry. "Sure, I guess. I might see you there, I might not. Anyway, shall we get back to work? I want to get this done quickly."

"Da, that we can do."

—

The rest of the English lesson went without a hitch, and after another lesson it was lunchtime. It turned out that Ivan was actually quite nice, he was polite and tried his best to be kind even though he was quite intimidating at first glance. He was quite patient and didn't seem to have a problem with Lovino, though he would have sworn he saw the Russian wink at him and Antonio once or twice.

By the time it got to lunch, he soon realised that he wouldn't be able to sit with Matthew to eat and ended up sitting with Gilbert, Francis, and of course Antonio. The albino was annoyed about the whole Ivan and Matthew spending time together at lunch, not saying much but 'Capital A and Capital B' to Lovino as the Italian came over and began to eat.

"Just because they're spending time together doesn't mean they have romantic feelings for each other, Gil," Francis told him, trying to calm him down a bit. "Try not to be so bitter and angry about it, oui?"

"But that what people do when they like each other, spend time with each other," Gil complained, his wings shuffling a bit as he looked down. "Birdie will never love me at this rate."

"I'm not good with love advice, but wouldn't it just be easier if you tell him?" Toni asked, tilting his head a bit. That seemed like the most obvious course of action to him, especially when Gilbert and Matthew both so obviously liked each other.

"Ohonhon~ like you can talk, Toni, what with that crush of yours." Francis teased, causing Antonio to blush a soft red and look down, laughing sheepishly.

Lovino froze at hearing those words, stiffening and taking a small bite of his sandwich. He didn't know why he should care that Antonio had a crush, it was normal and most people did. They weren't even close friends, yet he was worried about the other having a crush. He stayed silent, continuing to listen to the conversation whilst brushing off the feelings welling up inside of him.

"Well, you know, it's complicated. I doubt that this person would like me, they'd probably be creeped out if I told them and then it would be worse," the Spaniard explained, his own wings shifting around a bit as he spoke.

Francis raised a brow and whispered something to him, receiving a whisper in return. Gilbert could hear what they were saying too, and seemed to nod in understanding, but Lovino didn't know any of what they were talking about. He just sighed and rolled his eyes, not taking note of the gender neutral pronouns used which indicated that Antonio's crush could be of either gender.

Lovino sighed, changing his mind about sticking around to listen and getting up. He had too many emotions running through him right now, confusion, hurt, hope and curiosity to name a few. "Well, if you're going to be having girl talk, I'm outta here. Ciao."

"Wait, Lovi, please stay!" Antonio grabbed his hand, giving him a warm and slightly pleading smile. "It's okay for you to stay, I'd like it if you did because... because you haven't said if you have a crush or not!" The Spaniard hadn't thought of any good reasons to make hm stay and that was the first excuse he could come up with. The result was a blushing Lovino, who ripped his hand away and sat back down again.

"Don't touch me, tomato bastard. That's a crappy reason to stay, and the answer is simple. I don't like anyone." He rolled his eyes and grumbled a bit as he ate his sandwich, though his voice had sounded a bit uncertain when he said he didn't like anyone. He sighed, looking to Gilbert as he spoke. "And for the record, I'm staying because I have to tell Gil something. Ivan said that you get jealous too easily, and that he has eyes for someone else so he's not going to steal Matthew away."

Gilbert stiffened a bit and blushed a shade of red before nodding. "Danke for telling me, though am I really that obvious?"

"Oui, and I can't believe I didn't notice sooner. It's rather cute though, I must admit." It wasn't Francis that spoke, but Matthew himself, with Ivan following beside him.

Gilbert flushed a deeper shade of red and he looked up at the Canadian, squeaking a bit and barely managing to meet his gaze. "Ah, Matthew, nice weather we're having-"

His voice was cut off when a pair of warm lips pressed against his own, along with two hands cupping his cheeks, and he closed his eyes, melting into the kiss. Gilbert knew exactly who it was, and was more than happy to kiss back despite a few gasps and a loud round of applause, and one or two glares from onlookers. Soon Matthew pulled away, a large blush on his cheeks as he took a shaky breath and began to speak. "I... je t'aime, Gilbert. I know it's not the most romantic place to ask you out, but I couldn't wait when Ivan told me that you liked me too."

Gilbert stood up from his seat, wrapping his arms around the other and pulling him into a hug. "It may not have been how I imagined getting together with you, but ich liebe dich auch, Birdie. I have for a while now..." The albino trailed off, leaning forward and giving him another gentle kiss.

Lovino looked down at the scene, wanting to give them some sort of privacy in their intimate moment, like many others had done. He was happy for them, there was no doubt about that fact, they were his two best friends and he knew they would be happy together. That couldn't change the fact that it made his heart ache in loneliness as he was once again reminded by the world that he was alone, nor did it change the difficulty that arose in the weeks ahead. He knew it was coming, of course it would, when up on the wall there was a sign for winter prom.

Prom meant dates, asking people out, choosing a prom queen and king. That was a problem for Lovino, when in that moment it dawned on him that the only person he wouldn't mind going with wouldn't like him. He'd get ridiculed for asking them out, and even if they did together they would never get to be prom queen and king together.

That was the moment, in the crowded cafeteria on what should have been a regular Friday, that Lovino realised that he'd developed a crush on the Spanish man sitting across from him.

x-x-x

(A/N)

Thanks to all who have left reviews! Alalaszja and gingeralgae have gotten closer, but nobody has guessed what the letters mean. It has something to do with emotions and feelings. There are more hints in this chapter. I will also mention that there are six letters total, B, A, D, b, a, d.