Back at the Starlight Glitter club, Ivan sat in his large chair at the office while he spoke into the phone to someone and fiddled with a pen. The door opposite him opened and Toris nervously entered with a tray while balancing a glass and a full bottle of vodka on it. Ivan pointed to the desk with a bored expression without even glancing at him and continued speaking.

"Da… oh, that's not good… …Really? Interpol? Nevermind. We can get more from south-east Asia instead of Syria… they'd pay hundreds to get rid of their own flesh and blood…"

Toris shivered at the replies and placed the tray onto the desk, but his hands were shaking so much, he accidentally knocked the bottle over and he yelped as it crashed to the floor and the clear fluid spilled everywhere. His shocked eyes shot up to stare at Ivan, but surprisingly, he was still talking into the phone…

Oh wait… he's frowning now…

"…Give me the rest at the end of this month, then we're done," he put the phone down before just gazing at Toris.

The boy stared back, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

"You spilled my drink," Ivan stated bluntly before standing up and walked around the desk. "Are there any more from the kitchen?"

Frightened as the man stood in front of him, Toris shook his head silently. Ivan shrugged casually, before suddenly lifting his boot and kicked Toris's shoulder violently. The male yelled as he collapsed back to the floor, clutching his shoulder and grit his teeth in pain.

"You should NOT have dropped my drink…" the boss growled and kneeled down, yanking Toris to his feet by his hair and he cried out. "How are you going to make up for this, hm?"

Toris didn't say anything, only holding back pained groans from the sharp pain in his limp shoulder. He suspected that it might be broken.

Ivan leant down to whisper to his face. "You'll just have to earn my money back after your shoulder gets fixed at the hospital. Miguel's just gone off to get killed a few minutes ago by the docks; you'll just have to take his job as my… stress toy. Don't expect me to give you any special treatment because you're my favourite."

"…At least Braginski won't kill me," Gilbert remarked randomly as he walked down the street with Berwald. The sun is just about to set in the ever-far distance and the street lights softly glowed – the city council changed the lights with new energy-saving lightbulbs to cut costs, so the lights are dull compared to the old lightbulbs.

Berwald turned to him, humming a "Hm?" to respond.

Gilbert nodded. "He calls me his favourite… He treats me like one too, always sharing some vodka with me whenever he's in a good mood, like when he successfully trafficked some human slaves from other continents without getting tracked down. Chocolates too, but I like chocolate only on pancakes with some maple syrup…"

"Huh. Reminds me of Concentration Camp soldiers…" Berwald muttered, walking on. He's not worried. His car is still in the tightly-secured police compound, but he felt like walking and stretching his legs after a long day.

"Eh? What about them?" Gilbert frowned.

"Well, you get these cold-hearted soldiers who won't hesitate to kill people systematically or torture them for fun, but then when they come home to their families, they become the most loving people in the world. I read a short poem about such a man, who came home to his young daughter and gave her a whole bar of chocolate to make up for not being home to play with her," the Swede explained. His companion snorted.

"Yeah, well, Ivan would make a perfect Nazi if it wasn't for his pig-ugly looks!"

"His accent isn't that appealing."

"Nor sexy."

Berwald chuckled and that earned him a shocked look from the German. "I can't imagine him in one of those Nazi-themed sex dungeons while wearing pink lingerie." Gilbert burst out laughing and doubled over against the taller man.

"Oh my god, Big guy! You can't just say that!" he coughed out and cackled loudly again. He was laughing so hard he was crying. Berwald laughed a little too, putting his arms around the shorter male to support him. But Gilbert's laughs were seriously… infectious. Berwald laughed a little harder until he had to lean against the wall of a restaurant so that he doesn't collapse. When he looked down at the German's eyes, he leant down to kiss his lips.

In the bathroom connected to Ivan's office, Toris dabbed at the large bruise on his right cheek with a cold flannel before holding a tissue to pinch his bleeding nose. He was still shaking, but he couldn't stop no matter how warm the tiny bathroom was, which only consisted of very little floor space with a toilet, sink and a shower. Barely enough room to walk around, but he could just simply turn around and step into the shower, wash his hands or use the toilet. For now, he's applying some large, square plasters to the scratches on his hips and stomach, as well as his forehead where he accidentally banged it on the corner of Ivan's desk. Right now, he still feels dizzy from the thudding headache as well as a throbbing pain from his bandaged shoulder. Behind him, without knocking, the door swung open and Ivan strolled inside a couple of steps until he was behind Toris, staring at his face in the mirror. Toris stared at the mirror to look up at the taller man's face, shivering all over more violently.

"M-Mr Braginski…" he whimpered. Large hands rested on his shoulders and lips brushed against his ear.

"Toris, I got a little job for you…~ Could you stay in my office and do your usual duties, please? I have a little job to do…"

"Y-y-y-y-y-yes, sir…" Toris gulped and those hands slid down his arms and onto his hips before arms snaked around his waist. The sensation from feeling those tough gloves lightly graze his skin make his eyelids flutter shut in pleasure. "What… where are you going…? Please don't leave me…" he asked in a low whisper.

"To teach Gilbert a lesson. I'll be back in an hour or two. Don't go home until I tell you to do so."

Berwald and Gilbert finished laughing like drains a while ago and are both now walking along the streets, getting closer to the area where the German lives. The sun has finally set and the lights are glowing brighter as activity in the streets slowed down to a minimum to start the period of silence before the nightclubs open.

"…So, we haven't found out much of your wife's past," Gilbert sighed. "I was hoping we'd find something, y'know?"

"Ja…" Berwald nodded, walking on. "I never travelled so much in one day before."

"Heh. It took me 6 days to get from Germany to Sweden," Gilbert bragged. "I swam across that stretch of sea, but then I accidentally ended up in Poland before they drove me out, calling me an illegal immigrant- HAH! I could say the same thing about them!"

Berwald sighed, but with a small smile. He was curious though… about why Gilbert left Germany in the first place—

"I think we should split from here. You live opposite me," Gilbert suddenly interrupted his thoughts. The Swede blinked and looked up and down the streets while cars zoomed past.

"Ah. True. I'll see ya soon, Maria."

He accidentally said 'Maria,' but Gilbert smiled at that.

"See you later, Big guy. We should spend more time like today," he winked.

Waving at him a little, the German turned and walked down the street alone until he disappeared into the distant darkness.

With a soft sigh and a flashback of all memories from today, Berwald checked his watch and noticed the time was almost 6'o'clock. Right now, Peter will be still at his friend's house and in a few minutes Tino will leave the supermarket to go home and drink coffee while eating salmiakki. He won't expect Berwald to return until 9.

But travelling to another country, being frozen, trapped underground, having sex and being questioned by police have all tired him out. Now there's nothing more refreshing to his mind than going home and having an early night's sleep… he'll just tell Tino that he had a headache from working so much and go home early. He won't be exactly lying since he's still stressed deep down from Ivan's death threat against Tino and Peter…

Looking up at the tall block of flats, Ivan stood there while wearing a long black coat. In his hand a lighter flickered on and off as he played with it a little. Soon, someone walked out the main entrance to the building and they gave him a silent nod before Ivan handed over a wad of cash. The figure excitedly ran off past him, clutching the thick wad of bank notes which have been wrapped up with a ribbon to keep together, but then they stopped and examined their hand as it grew itchy and the skin suddenly started to break out in rashes before the skin swelled up rapidly and bloody sores suddenly burst open. The person is a man, and they cried out in panic as some strange infection tore at his skin with an oily substance. Ivan chuckled and turned to face him, switching the lighter on.

"Try putting yourself out while having flammable hands," he remarked and lit up the man's jacket sleeve before his hands became massive fireballs. "There's a whole bucket of water down that alleyway."

Even though the man was wailing loudly from agony, he heard the words 'water' and 'alleyway' and immediately charged past the Russian before a loud hissing sound was heard in the darkness of the alleyway, but the screams grew louder that lasted for a few, pained minutes before the silence came. Ivan turned to shout at the darkness.

"I should've told you that there were 3 buckets – all filled with hydrochloric acid!" He chuckled a little before looking at the building's entrance, where a young, cross-dressing individual walked up to with a smile before pushing the door open and walking inside. Ivan's smile grew wider and he flicked his lighter on again.

"It's time."

Berwald walked into his apartment, putting his suitcase by the door before shutting it and locking it. He kicked his shoes off and sighed heavily, leaning his forehead against the door. Home. Safe and sound.

"Berwald?" a surprised voice caught him off-guard and he turned to see Tino, holding a mug of coffee in one hand and a packet of salmiakki in the other.

Berwald found it odd that despite all that happened between him and the young male, he felt his heart swell from happiness… or was it fondness? But anyway, the Swede stepped forward with a soft smile and pulled Tino into a long embrace.

Tino was confused, but he can only snuggle his head against his chest, breathing in his scent. "Berwald…" he whispered. "I missed you…"

Berwald's heartstrings were tugged at the tone of voice. It sounded innocent without any trace of malice or violence, like before Tino took on his violent behaviour streak against him. It was like their wedding day when they realised how much they loved each other again and again…

"I… I missed you too, Tino. I love you."

Smash!

Tino dropped the coffee and his salmiakki before leaning up to kiss Berwald passionately and hold his face. Berwald's arms pulled him close in a tight embrace and kissed the Finn in return. The kiss became heated as their hands roamed over each other's bodies and breathy moans were heard before their kissing came to a stop. The pair gazed at each other, breathing heavily to catch up with their breaths while their hearts raced.

"Tino…" Berwald muttered, stroking his face. Deep down, he was wishing for the old Tino to come back and supress every amount of violent behaviour so he could never hurt Berwald again—

"Berwald…" Tino whispered and rested his hand on the man's larger hand, "I want you…"

The Swede's body trembled… but then he saw how sincere Tino's eyes are to him. Maybe this means he won't hurt him violently tonight? Will they have time?

"I… I met a friend at work today…" Tino started quietly. He was shaking, Berwald noticed with a frown. "It's an old friend, actually. And they… they kissed me…"

"…Huh?"

"Y-yeah, he kissed me," Tino huffed with embarrassment. "But I told Eduard that I'm married, and he said he was extremely sorry, but I said it's alright because we're best friends and I—Will you mind if I invite him for dinner, sometime?"

"Uh… ya don't need ta ask me," Berwald shrugged. "It's your home too."

"Berwald… I need to talk about something too… Eduard… he's also a psychologist. I hardly need to say why I need his help…"

The taller man stared at his partner's eyes while the spilt coffee on the floor slowly cooled down.

In his flat's living room, Gilbert laid back on the sofa (Still wearing his clothes from today) as he smiled up at the blank ceiling with today's memories brightly swirling in his mind. His body ached a little, but it was weeeell worth it. To top it all off, the pancakes he just ate seemed to have a better taste to them too. He mentally told himself to go visit Matthew sometime - his brother is still working at Ikea at this time of the evening.

The German sighed with a smile as he patted his stomach. "Lots of fresh air, not enough pancake time!"

The tranquil peace ran on as the clock on the wall ticked on, and on, and on…

Click.

Gilbert jumped at the small sound, which came from his wooden door, and he sat up, heart racing. He laughed nervously as his heart hammered. "Fucking hell, that made me jump. Maybe it's Mattie!" He looked up and shouted at the door. "I'll be there in a few minutes, Matthew! I wanna show you my awesome outfit like I promised!" He quickly put on his black wig, tugged up his long socks and slipped into his red shoes before quickly jumping to his feet and turned the handle on the door, but it wouldn't turn. He frowned and tried to turn harder, but the door seemed to be locked from the outside.

"…Do you understand where I'm going with this, Berwald?" Tino asked quietly. His husband nodded softly. "I don't want to lose myself like that again… I don't want to give in to violence… I don't want to hurt you… it's like there's another 'me' within my body that wants to hurt people…" His eyes started to brim with tears and Berwald raised his thumb to brush them away.

"So… yer psychologist friend… will they allow you to consult with him?" he asked. Tino nodded.

"He should anyway. I NEED to be myself again, for your sake and Peter's—" his throat seized and he choked back a sob, burying his face in Berwald's chest. "I can't hurt you! I love you! I fucking love you…! So much…!" His next words became illegible as they drowned in his sobs.

"H-hey, Mattie, did you lock the door?" Gilbert laughed shakily. "Birdie, it's not funny~! Seriously, I got my arse scared a lot today, so can you please slow down on the practical jokes, please? I'll give you more pancakes if you stop…"

But nothing happened… until he heard a loud scream coming from next door and there was a sound of furniture breaking and smashing loudly. The yelling and crying continued in a panicked mix of French and English. The German's heart rate shot up.

"MATTHEW!" Gilbert yelled and pounded the door. "MATTHEW! WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

"Tino… I promise you, you will get better," Berwald whispered and held his face close to his. "He's your friend, so he should help. I will support you to the ends of the Earth… m'wife…"

"O-oh, Berwald… you really are the best husband in the world!" Tino cried before pulling him into a long kiss, and more tears ran down his cheeks.

Gilbert suddenly stopped when he pressed his ear against his door to listen to a very sharp hissing sound coming from outside. He could smell something now, something dangerously familiar that spurred his body to drug itself with even more adrenaline.

"Gas…?

Suddenly, the fire alarms blared and all hell broke loose.

At the police station, Arthur was chatting to Monique when they both heard a startling loud explosion from somewhere and they gasped, looking around before staring at each other in horror.

Berwald and Tino's kiss was sharply interrupted when they heard a loud boom somewhere outside their apartment block and they stared at each other.

"What… was that…?" Berwald blankly stated, feeling confused and disturbed by the explosion.

Tino quickly ran over to the tall windows and looked out, peering into the darkness, but you didn't need glasses to see that a whole building a few streets away is completely engulfed in flames. It shone like a beacon with intense flames and towering plumes of grey smoke against the night sky. Berwald walked over too to see what was going on, frowning as he tried to think of street names.

"Terrorist attack?" Tino gulped, shaking all over.

"No… there's nothing special there. It's just an area full of council flats and—" Berwald suddenly stopped talking as he realised where the explosion was coming from.

"GILBERT!"