Gilbert and Matthew were sitting at their normal table at lunchtime, and it was much emptier than usual without Lovino. Not having the Italian boy around made a big difference for both of them, he was their best friend after all. He just seemed to be avoiding them all the time, and whenever they got close he would either ignore them or slip off into the crowd.

Matthew sighed as he looked out the window at the tree where Lovino was currently sitting with Arthur. "I wonder what we did wrong," he whispered, tucking one of his blond locks behind his ear, his wings shifting uncomfortably.

Gilbert sighed and wrapped his arm around Matthew, kissing his head. "I wonder that too. I know he'd been trying to get us together for ages, so it's not like he's upset that we're together, right?" He asked softly, shaking his head a bit. "Any luck with Arthur or Ivan?"

"No, they still won't tell me anything, just that we should ask him ourselves." Matthew sighed once more, leaning his head on Gilbert's chest and closing his eyes. "What are we going to do, Gil? I know that he needs us, I can just tell, and I know you can too. And the way he looks so... so..."

"Bad? Tired? The way he's much quieter? I can't stand it either, love. And that's why we're going to get him to talk. It's been much longer than it should have already, I can't let him down any more. Lovino is like my brother, and I need my brother back."

—

Gilbert and Matthew snuck out of the school building at the end of lunch, heading in the direction of the tree where Lovino was getting up and starting to walk back inside for classes. Arthur noticed them first and only nodded, waving to Lovino and going on ahead. It was when the Italian looked up to wave too that he saw his two best friends coming up towards him, and he instantly looked down to avoid their gaze. He started to walk away, but Matthew gently grasped his hand and pulled him into a hug.

"Please, Lovino, don't shut us out," he said softly, a look of desperation in his eyes. Gilbert joined the hug not long after, wrapping his wings around both of them.

Lovino struggled against it initially but soon gave in, leaning into their embrace and starting to shake a bit. "Fly. I need to fly, then we talk. I-I know a place, a place where nobody else knows. It's safe." His voice was uncharacteristically quiet and upset, which wasn't exactly surprising, but it was unsettling to hear.

"Okay, Vino," Matthew said gently, pulling away from the hug but continuing to hold his hand. "Gilbert will carry you to a place you can spread your wings, and then we can fly. Where do you want to go?"

"The forest."

—

It wasn't long at all before the three of them had arrived at the outskirts of the forest. Most people were at work by then and so they managed to avoid running into other people as they flew. Rush hour was particularly bad, since while some people drove cars the majority of people flew to and from work since it was more convenient and saved money on fuel. There would be a period of time when most of the people in the town were flying up in the sky, and that was quite the sight.

As they landed, Lovino took off his sweater and wrapped it securely around his waist, stretching his wings as he did so. A few colourful feathers fell to the ground, and though they were ruffled from a half a day of being folded, it was obviously he had been taking care of them much better than he had been before. After a deep breath he leaned into the air, flapping his wings to keep himself airborne.

Matthew and Gilbert followed suit, and they began following him in the direction of the place they were going. They began to notice something about the way Lovino flew, though, it was rather odd and unusual. Back when Lovino would occasionally go on flights with them, his pattern was natural and graceful like it should be, but now it seemed clunky. It had been two years since their last proper flight together, and for most of that his wings had been folded, something that they all knew was uncomfortable for long periods of time.

Lovino didn't seem to notice though, and continued flying. The couple shared worried looks with each other, but stayed quiet mostly, not wanting to ruin the chance they had talking with him.

It took about twenty minutes to get there, and honestly, both Gilbert and Matthew would have been able to fly it in half that time with ease. It seemed that Lovino was flying much slower than a normal person, and while that could have been because of exhaustion, the other more likely explanation seemed to be in his flying pattern.

Lovino on the other hand had noticed their staring and had found himself becoming a little more uncomfortable. He quickly returned his wings to be folded up, since that seemed to ease the pain a bit after he was finished flying, since he had noticed his wings were starting to become sore after extended use, particularly if he was flapping more. It was more windy and the breeze was in the wrong direction to be able to help him fly, and the aching was worse than it had ever been. Still, they were finally there, the spot he'd found the other night that he'd been frequently going to every night.

Unbeknownst to him, other people already knew the place quite well since it wasn't actually that far of a fly away and was a nice place for a date. He just had never seen someone since he always came late at night.

He sat down, gesturing for Gilbert and Matthew to do the same. Everything was silent for a moment before he took a deep breath and started to talk. "I guess I owe you two an explanation, huh?" he said quietly, pausing for a moment more. The two others stayed silent, whilst being attentive and showing him that it was okay to spoke by the caring expressions on their face.

"Well, I guess you guys were right. That day, when you guys got together, I, uh, I realised that I like Antonio. I was scared, I didn't know what to do, especially since you guys were talking about his crush. So, I went and sat on my own, well that was the plan anyway. I met Arthur, and he's actually really nice. But with everyone else, I just seemed to keep messing up. I was flustered, I couldn't seem to do anything right. I just kept on pushing people away and I know that hurt the two of you.

But that afternoon, it was worse. Antonio noticed me being upset, and he offered to take me out for ice cream. I said that we had to go out for gelato instead, and then I would go." He let out a shaky sigh and laughed bitterly as he shook his head. "It was almost like a date, to be honest, he was so kind and always made sure I was happy. Tried his best not to annoy me and didn't try to force me to talk. He just told stories as we ate, and I may have wiped his chin with a napkin. It wasn't actually that bad until he started talking about this person with wings that practically matched the description of mine that he'd seen in Spain. He had no way to know it was me, no way at all, but I freaked out and asked the first thing I could think of, which was something I'd been debating on asking since I realised I liked him. I asked him what he thought about same sex relationships, and he said that he was fine with them, and that he was straight. I said the same thing, before I lied and said I needed to leave, and left. I'm such a fucking dumbass."

Gilbert didn't respond for a moment, but Matthew was quick to speak up. "Lovino, look at me. You're not a dumbass. You've never felt this way and I get that it's confusing and upsetting and you don't know how to act. But you didn't need to keep this to yourself, we would have been more than happy to try and help you understand your feelings. We're your best friends, your brothers, and maybe we aren't brothers by blood but I sure as hell don't think that matters." His voice was gentle, but firm enough so that Lovino understood he was being serious.

Said male looked down, fiddling with the hem of the shirt he had been wearing beneath the sweater. "I know. I fucked up, I shouldn't have pushed you away. But you all just seemed so happy without me and I thought it didn't matter whether I was there or not. Gil was hitting it off with Matthias, and you two were hanging out the rest of the time, and I wasn't going to take priority over your relationship. I'm not worth that."

Gilbert let out a low growl, gently tilting the Italian's face to look up at them both. "That's total and utter bullshit. We spend time with each other yes, but we want to spend time with you. You are our brother and our family, and we will not just put you aside because we're dating. Matthew's and my relationship doesn't change our friendship with you, and don't even start on the 'I'll just be a third wheel and get in the way' crap. We have fun and it's good to spend time with each other, but we both have more fun with you around as well. How can we have guy time if we don't have all of the guys here? And once again, don't you dare suggest someone can replace you. More people can join the guys if needed, but there's no way that I'd ever let someone be your replacement. And I speak for both Matthew and myself when I say that." He let go of Lovino's chin and pulled away, giving him a small, sad and longing smile. "Please, I, I need my bruder back, Lovino. We both need you."

Lovino was taken aback by both of their words. The fact that they still wanted him, without bearing any ill will at all after he'd been ignoring them and treating them like they were never friends to begin with, it shouldn't have surprised him but it did. He'd been caught up believing that they wouldn't want him that he forgot the kind and forgiving nature of his friends. He knew he made a mess, that he made stupid decisions, but that was all part of being human, and his friends knew that. And his friends were there for him and wanted him too.

He didn't answer verbally, but by wrapping his arms around Matthew, who promptly returned the hug and held him close. Similarly to before, Gilbert joined in and wrapped his wings around them, keeping Lovino in a feathery cocoon of warmth and safety, where he felt like he most truly belonged. It was the one place where he didn't have to act strong or pretend everything was okay. "Thank you. A-and if you don't mind, I'd like it if Ivan and Arthur can hang out with us too."

Matthew smiled and looked up at Gilbert, who nodded approvingly. "Of course."

—

A/N - To the reviewer that said that the wing aspect of the story felt like a cheap gimmick to get people to read, I would like to say that I am writing a longer book and I am not even a quarterof the way through it. Wings have not been as big as a focus as so far my writing has mainly been set up for later plot, which will involve the wingtalia aspect more.