Their group hug continued for a little longer until Lovino had calmed down and had pulled away. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking away for a moment. "How about we go back somewhere else? I feel like we could all do with a place more comfortable than this," he suggested, receiving a nod in return from both the other males. He smiled a bit, and then stood up, once again beginning his flight. He ignored the pain in his wings, it particularly hurt in the joints, but he didn't think it was a problem and just labelled it as that he hadn't flown in a while, like he had every other time he'd gone flying earlier that week. He seemed to be struggling particularly by the time they got to the outskirts of the forest, but conveniently he needed to land to cover up his wings before it became too bad. He let out a sigh of relief as they landed and folded his wings up as he put his sweater on. "Let's go," he told them softly.

—

They had soon made it back to Lovino's house, since his grandfather was out and that day. His sweater was off, but his wings were still folded up, it was a habit he'd gotten into a lot recently. The three were sitting on the couch, glasses of pepsi in hand as it was the only drink other than water and wine that they had in the house.

"We still need to talk about the whole Antonio situation," he told them, shaking his head a bit. He didn't particularly like talking about it, but he knew he needed to and that his friends wanted to help him.

"Especially since prom is coming up. You know, not all hope is lost, Lovino. I know he said he was straight, but you ever think he may have just been scared to come out to you? He's told both Francis and I that he's bi-questioning," Gilbert said with a shrug. "He said he's never really had anyone he really likes, but he said there's two people that he thinks he has a crush on. I have reason to believe that one of them might be you."

"But the other one, Laura..." the Italian trailed off, sighing once again, "She's genuinely a nice person, her and Antonio would be so well together. I don't want to be the reason neither of them get their happiness."

Matthew placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled softly. "Look, they aren't together yet. You wouldn't be doing anything wrong to either of them by asking him out first. It's wrong to try and split someone up from a relationship, yes, but you wouldn't be doing that."

"I guess you're right... but what if he doesn't actually like me and he rejects me and then it becomes hard? We are in that English project together and it would be awkward with him knowing I like him."

"More awkward than this previous week," Gilbert asked, causing Lovino to flinch and look down. "Right, touchy subject, sorry. But honestly, I wouldn't lie to you. At this point though, he'd go with either one of you if you asked, since he doesn't know who he likes best. Just go for it, you'll never get anywhere if you don't do anything. Just keep in mind that you don't have forever to ask, if you're not careful you may lose your chance."

"Yeah, I know. I just need some time, guys. Just be warned, if I don't get to go with him I'm not going. I don't really want to go and I never had, but if I get to make him happy... He's told me how much he loves to dance before," he said softly, blushing slightly.

"Lovi has a crush~ Lovi has a crush~" Matthew said teasingly, giggling afterwards. The Italian blushed darker and avoided his gaze, but not for too long. "Honestly, you two would be really sweet together. He notices you, Vino, I can tell. He's picked up on your moods already. You said it yourself, he went up to you because he could tell you were upset and tried to cheer you up. He was trying to cheer you up and was able to do it."

"Mattie's right, you and Antonio would be great together. I know it seems to you like he's absolutely perfect with Laura, but you shouldn't doubt yourself. You two have good chemistry," Gilbert assured him with a smile. "And what you were doing at the gelato place, it was practically a date. It didn't sound much like a hangout between friends. It's quite easy to picture you two together as a couple."

"That's enough," Lovino mumbled, he had gotten the point already. He actually liked the idea of being together with him, and he had started to feel hope. Maybe he had a chance after all. "I'll, uh, I think I'll ask him."

Matthew and Gilbert grinned, the former giving him a short hug. "Don't worry, we'll help you plan it. There's two weeks till prom, and I have an awesome plan. So how about on Friday next week..."

—

Lovino sighed happily, leaning back on the bed. They'd finished discussing plans the night before, and even though he would have to wait until next Friday to pull them off, he actually felt confident that he had a chance. It was Friday morning, and for once he actually got out of bed happier, like he had a feeling that the day ahead would go well. He just knew that it would, things weren't so bad anymore. He wasn't so bad anymore.