Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.

A/n1: One of you wonderful, glittery readers (you know who you are~) pointed out to me that one of my dear, yet kind of cracky ships was going to happen very soon, namely Belgium x Russia, oh dear god, pfffffgdfsddsdf. Tomorrow, during the World Cup, Belgium has to face Russia, and MY GOD, am I going to watch the everloving CRAP out of that match.
I'll watch it, and I'll be hoping to find some fanart of BelRus, or Russium, or Belgia, or whatever the ship's name is (though I got to say I like Russium, it sounds cool) and… and…
…and then I'll fucking SOB my eyes out because there WON'T be any fanart, since I'm the SOLE PERSON ON EARTH who ships these lovies.
*weeps and cradles self in Belgium/Russia-decorated corner*

A/n2: Writing down "Tibetan" below the name of Tenzin Gyatso seemed a bit ridiculous to me – he's the Dalai Lama, so of course he's Tibetan – so I didn't write a nationality down this time.
But, just to be an annoying, repetitive hag: the good man's Tibetan, and his name(s) remind me of characters from Avatar way too much. I don't regret anything. *insert spinning disco-chicken* Yay!

A/n3: Warning: very huge chapter ahead. Yup. Because there were things I just needed to write in this chapter, and because I wanted to avoid rambling too much in too many chapters.

~~ And Three Makes Five ~~

Chapter 55:

If children feel angry with someone, they express it, and then it's finished.
They can still play with that person the other day.
Tenzin Gyatso
(current Dalai Lama)

Right! So…

…I made some sort of agreement with Feliciano: I'd spend the following days with him and Mimi to try and make the best of our last days together, and then he'd do his best to shut the hell up about his god-awful theory and just have a good time with his brother and daughter.

'Also,' I told Feliciano as he folded open a load of touristic maps about Venice on the big table, 'I want to call Antonio – every day.'

Feliciano's light-brown eyes looked up from the map and watched me curiously.

'Why?'

I felt my cheeks started to turn red. 'You know. Because I love him. And stuff. So I… I want to talk to him every day, tell him what I've done that day and ask him if the kids are doing fine, if he and Matteo are feeling better already – oh, you didn't know that yet, they're a bit sick right now – and if… if he misses me.'

Feliciano chuckled. 'Veee, you're such a sap, Lovi!'

'No I'm not,' I snorted, 'I'm just a very responsible adult that wants to keep his oblivious husband and demonic children informed about his whereabouts. Besides, they'll worry themselves way too much unless I call them every now and then.'

'Wow, are they that worried about you?'

'I tell you, Feliciano, it's bordering on offensive. They're scared I might walk along with strangers. Luisa even gave me her dog tag.' I pulled the thing from underneath my shirt. 'She gave me her fucking dog tag. Then she threadened to hurt me if I'd break it. What the actual fuck.'

Feliciano leaned his chin on his arms, smiling from ear to ear. 'Aww, she's so huffy and caring!~ She's just like you!~'

I frowned at him. Seriously – what the shit's up with all these people comparing my violent, bratty and unruly daughter to me, dammit?

…

Don't answer that.

'Anyway,' I went on, 'is that okay with you? Can I call Antonio once a day?'

Feliciano blinked and cocked his head – a really silly sight, since his head leant on his arms, but he managed to pull it off.

'Veee, Lovi, even if I told you you couldn't, would you actually listen?'

'Um,' I fiercely rebutted.

'Yes, that's what I thought!' My weirder and younger brother giggled and stood up straight again. 'That's okay, Lovi, you can call Big Brother Toni as much as you want!~ I trust you!'

I let out a puff of air I didn't even know I was keeping in. 'Thanks, Feliciano.'

'Oh, oh! Why don't you call him now?' Feliciano suggested. 'You make that call, then I'll look at the map and figure out what the three of us can do the following days! Does that sound good to you?'

'Sure,' I nodded.

He grinned and beckoned Mimi – who had noticed the lighter air in the room and was now watching me and her father confusedly – to come over.

'Veee, come here, sweetie-pie!~ Let's see what you, me and uncle Lovi can do this week!~'

'O-okay!' Mimi stammered, while a hopeful smile broke free on her Germany-esk pale face, and she hastily stumbled over to Feliciano, as if she was afraid the good mood would disappear if she didn't reach the table where he was quick enough.

I felt satisfied, for now, and told Feliciano and Mimi I was going outside for a bit.

'Ohh,' Feliciano lisped teasingly as Mimi pressed her face against the map on the table, 'is it going to be that kind of call, huh?~ Veee, you're so energetic, big brother!'

…

I stared at him, my face blanker than fucking blank.

'Sure,' I eventually confirmed his pervy thoughts, 'it's going to be that kind of call, yes. Why hide it, it's going to be very sexy. So yeah. Be right back.'

'Have fun!~' Feliciano shouted after me as I descended the stairs – and I sighed and rolled my eyes. Ugh. Seemed like some things just never change, no matter what the situation is, dammit.

…

Maybe that's even good.

\0o0/

I dialed Antonio's number as soon as I walked out of the House, and this time, he picked up the phone impressively fast – looks like he learned from the last time and had successfully prepared himself for my call by preventively stashing the kids away in a ball pit or whatever.

Way to go, Antonio!

'That must be a new record,' I chuckled as I supported my back against a crumbling wall. 'Were you waiting for my call?'

Antonio laughed. 'Ah, not really – I thought you'd call me tonight, after all – I actually have a nice moment of peace right now! The kids are playing in the garden, Germany went to the toilet just now and I'm also in the garden, drinking some orange juice and waiting for Alejo to give me our juicer back – you know, that small, orange one.'

'Aha.' I smiled. 'Damn brat.'

'Seriously, Lovi – what does he even want to do with that thing? Oh wait – I think he's helping Matteo with… with squeezing out the juices of his toys.'

'Oh, that sucks. But oh well. As long as they have fun, right?'

'Yeah. Too bad they're trying to make juice out of plastic Lego-blocks, though. I really liked that juicer.'

'Aww, poor you. Should I bring an Italian one with me when I come back?' I grinned.

'That would be nice, yes!' Antonio delightedly said – and, after a short pause, '…so, how's the situation over there, huh? I suppose you've met up with Feli already?'

'Yeah, but he's not exactly willing to come back yet,' I told him, looking up at a huge, beautiful tree. 'But don't worry. I will drag him and Mimi back to Germany.'

'Ah,' Antonio only said.

'How's that giant doing anyway? Has he cheered up yet?'

'He's okay,' Antonio slowly said – and I could practically see his smile fading away. 'But… you know. He only is as okay as one can be after his husband and daughter have sprinted away from him. He's trying hard to stay strong, but he's…'

'…he's…?'

'He's at the end of his wits, Lovino.'

'Oh.' I felt my throat was getting dry and sticky, again. Maybe I should have drunk some more before going downstairs.

'Sweetie,' Antonio started again, his voice filled with worry, 'how are you? You aren't feeling unhappy or depressed, are you? Because… if you can't bring Feliciano back home for whatever reason, it's okay, alright? You can only do your best, after all.'

'Don't be ridiculous, Antonio, I'm perfectly fine, no big deal,' I snorted. And it was true – right now, I felt okay. I was in Italy, after all, together with my brother. Nothing strange or bizarre here. I just needed a plan – and that's also what I told Antonio.

'What kind of plan?' Antonio asked.

'You know, a plan to convince Feliciano to return home with me! That can't be too difficult, right?'

'I don't know. It sounds like you haven't convinced him to return home at all yet, at this point. Am I right?'

I huffed. I didn't feel like telling him he was exactly right, he'd only get a big head anyway.

Besides, to Antonio, that puffing sound was more than enough.

He groaned softly. 'Lovi, my love… don't do anything drastic or thoughtless, okay? Feli's probably pretty vulnerable right now. Doing or saying the wrong things may result in him getting really angry with you – you understand this, right?'

My body stiffened, if only for a couple of seconds. I opened my mouth, wanting to tell him about the proposal Feli had made and the outcome of my visit if I was going to leave Venice without him – but then I decided I didn't want to make Antonio worry too much about me. He already did that way too much to my liking.

'Don't worry,' I therefore casually told him, 'I'll be careful. And I'll call you every day to tell you how things are going, if that's fine with you.'

Antonio sighed and didn't reply right away.

'Antonio?' I urged.

'Alright then.' He gave up. 'As long as you call me every day, it's okay.'

I snickered. 'Oh, I thought you didn't want me to call you that much? Because of money and the bosses and such?'

'Yeah, well, screw all of that – I can't stand spending even a single day without at least hearing your voice,' Antonio responded.

'Do you miss me?' I blabbed out, and immediately wanted to smack myself in the face for asking such a mushy question.

'I miss you, yes,' Antonio said. 'Very much.'

'You big wuss, I've only been away for a couple of hours! Not even a day yet!'

'I don't care. You asked me if I missed you and I answered that I did. The kids miss you as well, by the way. Luisa even demanded me to go get you back a little while ago.'

I swallowed. 'Okay.'

'Do you miss us as well, sweetie?'

'Y-yeah.'

'Ohhhhhhh, who's the wuss now, huh? Who's the wuss now!'

I chuckled. 'Shut up, dammit.'

Antonio couldn't suppress a chuckle either. 'Hey, you asked for it, tough guy!'

'I know, I know.' I smiled, but then I looked up, to the House this time, and stopped smiling. 'Listen, I think I should go back to Feliciano now, he and Mimi are figuring out what we're going to do the next couple of days. It should be a lot of fun and I'm here talking to you like a total party pooper.'

Antonio agreed and wished me a nice day, promising me he'd call me later tonight, because fuck the telephone bill, so I could tell them all goodnight and shit like that.

I laughed, said goodbye and hung up – after which I finally managed to tear my gaze away from that wide-open glass window, way up above my head.

…

…

Wondering if Feliciano had heard me was just a waste of time, I could only hope he wouldn't be mad at me.

\0o0/

'Hi, big brother!~' Feliciano greeted me with a sunny voice, stopping from scribbling things down in a notebook to shoot dazzling smiles and a massive amount of happiness my way.

'Yeah, hi,' I awkwardly said, sitting down at the table. I casually looked to the left – and yes, the window that I had seen from the ground indeed belonged to this floor. It was still open.

However, Feliciano babbled like he didn't had a care in the world, and although I firstly wanted to play along, I then all of a sudden didn't want us to be so frustratingly sneaky around one another, and I just spat it out.

'So, did you hear all that?'

'Hmm?' Feliciano said while watching Mimi draw colorful lines on the map.

'My conversation with Antonio. About my plan.' I frowned. 'You heard, didn't you?'

He gave me a hesitant look.

'It's okay,' I reassured him, 'you don't have to pretend you didn't hear me talk. You can be mad at me, if you want to. But that won't keep me from trying, if… if you know what I mean.'

Feliciano smiled a bit. 'I'm not mad at you and I know what you mean.'

This was quite an unexpected, calm reaction, I had to say. I couldn't even think what to respond to that for a little while, I was just that flabbergasted.

'Lovi, I know you, you know?' Feliciano chuckled. 'Of course you're not planning to give up on me that easily!~ You're my big brother, and I… veee, I wouldn't give up on you that easily either, if I was in your shoes.'

'So you're going to let me… try?' I wanted to know.

He shrugged. 'Sure, why not – you're not going to succeed anyway.'

I smirked and folded my arms. 'We'll see about that, Feliciano.'

'But Lovi,' Feliciano continued, 'if you talked to Big Brother Toni about how you were planning to convince me to return home, you didn't have time to have a steamy conversation with him! Aww.'

I smirked some more. Normally, I'd blush and deny anything, while tossing things around ferociously. But now, I was alone with my brother, without Antonio (or other nations for all that matters) being around to grin teasingly at me and make me feel embarrassed, so I could handle Feliciano's playful quirks now.

'Don't fucking "aww" me, you dipshit – he calls me back tonight, so don't you worry about me. I'll get some. Sort of. Anyway, I'd rather worry about myself, if I were you: you can't get any as long as you're hiding, ever thought about that?'

At first, Feliciano gasped and turned pale – he loved sex as much as every other person, after all – but then he narrowed his brownish eyes at me and pouted.

'Oh – so it has begun, huh?'

'Ohh yes, it has begun,' I confirmed, and grinned mysteriously.

May the best brother bring the other back home.

Ha!

\0o0/

Since it had been quite late the day I had arrived at Feliciano's place, we didn't do anything noteworthy the rest of that day.

Well, we went out with Mimi and ate dinner at a fancy little trattoria – an Italian-style eating establishment. These kind of restaurants don't have printed menu's, the service is casual, the food and drinks are modest and the style of the trattoria is typically homely and old-rustic. Also, the clientele aren't tourists or fancy people, but simple, normal residents who live close by.

I loved eating at trattoria's, they were so nice and cozy. Plus, they really liked to empathize on everything that was familiar to us Italians.

Heh – I could totally imagine Antonio and the kids, sitting here and looking around them, wondering where the hell they were, right before the kids would go on a rampage and trample everythingggggggg.

Well, most trattoria's were kid-friendly, so I guess that wouldn't be too awful.

…

We should visit a trattoria someday.

Anyway, we had a pretty good time at the Italian restaurant, Feliciano, Mimi and me. We sat, drank and had wonderful, simple food as we talked about things from the past and things that had and hadn't changed in Venice.

'Veee, you shall see it for yourself, Lovino, tomorrow: Mimi and I are going to take you on a tour around Venice, and you'll be astonished how much has changed since the last time you visited Venice!' Feliciano enthusiastically said, right before drinking some of his wine.

I snorted. 'No shit – I haven't been in Venice in years.'

Mimi gave me stern look. 'Uncle Lovi, you say lots of bad words. That's naughty.'

'I am naughty,' I replied – and instantly felt like a huge creep, dammit, and tried to hide behind a bottle of wine when a bubblegum-chewing waitress gave me an interested look.

'Papa neversss says bad words,' Mimi went on without paying attention to my flustered face, and grinned at Feliciano. 'He's always very nice and cool!'

I thought Feliciano would feel very proud and puff up his measly chest or something, but he just smiled a bit, nodded at her and took another bite of his meat.

I didn't understand his reaction at first, I mean, it's fucking great if your kid describes you like that – until I realized that Mimi was talking about Germany. He was papa. Feliciano's… mama.

…

I still didn't understand why the fuck he'd let himself call "mama", by the way, but hey, not my business, I guess.

Mimi cheerfully chattered on about her wonderful German father for a few minutes, which was great, because that way, Feliciano would maybe start to feel like he wanted to go back to him, but when my brother started to get a face as if he could burst out crying at any given moment, I couldn't bring myself to let Mimi go on and interrupted her.

'So! Mimi!' I hastily butted in – something that earned me a very nasty glare from the little girl. 'Can you talk a little bit of Italian? Has your… mama taught you anything about his homeland?'

'Yea!' Mimi grinned, 'I can speak Italian! Like grazie! And salute! And prego! And… and… lo studio dell'italiano aguzza l'ingegno!'

…

…

I stared at Feliciano.

'The… the study of Italian sharpens the mind?'

'Sì!' Feliciano replied – a lot happier again. 'Veee, that's what she said!~'

I rolled my eyes and snickered. 'What a random, dumb sentence to teach a kid.'

'Well, it's still true!' Feliciano huffed. 'Italian is a beautiful language that can sharpen your mind. Mimi should study it. After all, she only knows German right now.'

'She… oh.' I said. 'So… she doesn't know—'

'Not a word, Lovino. At least, not before I started to teach her.' Feliciano clenched his hands around his unfashionable glass of wine. 'She has practically inherited everything from Ludwig, but barely anything from me.'

I felt the calm ambiance was slowly changing and instantly tried to snap Feliciano out of it.

'Don't say that, Mimi inherited lots of you! Like your personality! Your spunk! Your social abilities! Hell, maybe she's just as artistic as you, too! She…'

Feliciano shook his head. 'Mimi can't draw.'

'You don't know that yet, she—'

'She draws stick figures, Lovino. She loathes art. She hates it. She only wants to play.'

I furrowed my brows. 'So what – my kids despise art as well! They also just want to play – that's normal, they're kids!'

'No.' Feliciano shook his head once more. 'You don't get it. It's not like I feel sad she didn't inherit that much from me – I don't care about that, really – but it's just bad. A bad omen. Mimi's less valuable to the Leaders now, since she only seems to represent Ludwig's country. Imagine what could happen to her if the Leaders manage get her and realize this…'

'Feliciano…' I said, no, almost begged as I nodded at Mimi, '…please, don't say such things with Mimi around.'

'But your kids,' Feliciano carried on, ignoring me and his daughter misty eyes, 'your kids all three represent a lot of both you and Antonio. Matteo and Alejo may look a lot like Antonio, but they have your eyes and energy, while Luisa is pretty much a small, feminine version of you – except for her eyes and love for ugly things, of course. They should be very valuable for the Leaders.'

I didn't reply, I just shot looks like daggers at him.

'Sorry. I… I was just musing.' Feliciano averted his eyes and smiled at Mimi. 'Besides, maybe it's a good thing you're less valuable than your cousins, Mimi!~ Isn't that nice?'

Mimi looked up at him emotionlessly, put down her fork and shove her chair backwards.

'I'm… I'm full.'

And then she threw up all over the floor.

\0o0/

Later that evening, when I had already spoken with Antonio and the kids and was listening in a spare bed to Feliciano – desperately trying to stop Mimi's heartbreaking crying – I couldn't help but ask myself if I even had the faintest idea what I was doing.

I also, for the first time, wondered if I would really be able to get Feliciano to return back to Germany – but that was probably because of the completely ruined atmosphere that was currently swirling inside of the House. I mean, I shouldn't give up already. Hell, I should have known this was going to be tougher than I thought.

Luckily, my call with Antonio and our three twerps had lifted my spirits up again – they all had sounded so cute and sweet, telling me to have nice dreams and bring them lots of souvenirs – and so, I handled this difficult situation like a pro.

I bet most normal people would feel very uneasy if they were me, but they are not me – so in the end, I still had high hopes.

'I finally calmed her down…'

I stopped thinking about Antonio and the kids and turned to my side. In the faint light of the small nightlight on a side table, I could see Feliciano staggering to his bed, almost tripping over his own legs as he passed my bed.

'Well done,' I – kind of stupidly – praised him. 'Did you tell her a bedtime story?'

Feliciano gave me a bewildered, exhausted look, right after he sat down on his bed. 'Huh? No, I… I don't… I can't think of nice stories to tell her.'

'Of course you can!' I tried to make my voice sound upbeat. 'I tell my kids stories all the time! I—'

'Well, we can't all be wonderful daddies like you are, Lovino,' Feliciano coldly interrupted me.

I was effectively silenced and frowned at him.

'Sorry.' Feliciano gulped and rubbed his eyes. 'It was a… a busy and emotional day, huh?'

He made laughing sounds, even though it took me some imagination to let them pass as laughing sounds, and then he got quiet again and fidgeted with his sheets.

I instantly stopped frowning. Poor guy was mentally exhausted. God, how awful. How goddamn awful.

'Hey, don't… don't worry about it,' I gently said, 'tomorrow, things will probably be better. Right? You're going to show me around Venice, after all – the most beautiful city of all!'

It helped: when Feliciano finally looked at me, he was smiling a little again and wiped his nose.

'Y-yeah, you're right. We're going to have a lot of fun tomorrow!'

'Yes, that's the spirit!'

'Uh-huh!' Feliciano smiled some more.

'Now – let's go to sleep, alright? You… I mean, we need our rest.'

My brother nodded, sighed softly and laid himself down. Seconds later, the light was switched off and everything in the House became silent.

'Hey hey, Lovi?'

Well, almost.

I opened my eyes a bit. 'Yeah?'

'T-thanks.'

I closed my eyes again. 'Don't mention it, Feli.'

\0o0/

The next day started off well: Feliciano had made a fantastic breakfast and Mimi was smiling again, showing me her new dresses that Feliciano had bought her after they had arrived in Venice, and my hopeful feelings got stronger.

Which… was odd. I mean, the more miserable they felt here in Venice, the more likely they were going to come back to Germany with me, right? Or did their feelings of happiness increase my chances of bringing them back? Depression equals passivity and negativity, after all.

I didn't know, really. I just felt relieved to see they weren't sad or angry anymore.

'So,' I said, after shoving my chair closer to the nicely decorated table, 'what's the program for today, Feliciano?'

'Veee, good question!' Feliciano cheerfully responded, and pulled out his map. 'We're going to walk this route today!~'

He pointed to a pink squiggle, following the same route as the canal.

'We could just walk around for some sight-seeing,' Feliciano explained. 'And, we could take a dip in the water! There is this nice little beach-like place over there. The water's kind of luke warm this time of the year, so it should be perfect!'

'Oh, I like swimming!' I agreed. 'Good thing I packed my swimming trunks.'

Feliciano laughed. 'Aww, we've got about the same size – I would have had a spare for you anyway!~'

'No thanks, you only have gay swimwear.' I shuddered. 'In gay colors.'

'Veee, you're surprisingly homophobic, for a proud homo.' Feliciano grinned and dodged the tomato I threw at his head.

'Just admit it, you idiot: you must be crazy to go swimming while wearing bright pink, sparkling trunks. I mean, what the fuck, who does that! In Italy, even!' I shrilly said.

Feliciano pouted. 'Veee, but they're pretty…'

'No, Feliciano, no!'

'But, but it'll be easier to spot if you lose sight of me!'

'Yeah, I know – I just need to follow the blood tracks in the sand.' I snorted sarcastically. 'Please, Feliciano. I know you love silly colors, and that's perfectly fine, but remember that you're not in a more accepting country like, say, Germany anymore.'

Bull's-eye. Feliciano's face looked devastated when I mentioned Germany.

Too bad he wasn't planning on dwelling around too long in his sorrow over having left Germany behind: within the blink of an eye, he handwaved my comment away and smiled again.

'Okay, I get it – I'll just wear a safe, green pair of trunks, then!~'

'Good,' I said, cursing under my breath afterwards. Damn, I should have pointed out more benefits of returning back to Germany, but I probably was too – I don't fucking know, too careful or whatever. It's not a very nice feeling to attack your brother like that, after all, even if it's for the best.

'I wanna wear my yelly belly!' Mimi exclaimed all of a sudden, and sprinted towards her wardrobe.

'Yelly belly?' I repeated.

Feliciano giggled. 'She means her yellow swimming suit!~ Veee… it's a one-piece with lots of frills and cute pictures of flowers on it. Also, it's hurts your eyes.'

'That yellow, huh?'

'Naaah – that white.' Feliciano sighed.

What do you mean, I wanted to ask – but then Mimi returned from her wardrobe, impatiently pulling up the last bits of her swimming suit, and I instantly saw what my brother had meant.

God, that girl was pale. The yellow didn't compliment her almost unhealthy light features. She looked like she was sick!

However, the huge smile on her face – the first I saw ever since arriving here – told me that she felt great, actually, very great, and that Feliciano had to bring a very impressive army with him if he wanted to take the swimming suit away from her.

'Welllllllll?' Mimi grinned, twirling around in a wobbly, clumsy way that made her look like a younger, female Feliciano.

'Uh… great!' I hastily said. 'You look… beautiful!'

'Yes, you're very pretty, sweetie!~' Feliciano added.

That pleased Mimi, and after chuckling in delight, she ran off again, babbling something about needing to pack her things for the beach.

'Oh,' Feliciano realized, 'we should hurry, too! The day doesn't go on forever, after all!'

'Right,' I nodded, getting up. 'Then let's clean up, pack some things and get moving!'

\0o0/

We tidied up and left, and I mentally prepared myself to do my very best at convincing Feliciano to return back home with Mimi – with me.

But I forgot all about it the second we went outside.

The weather was great, the city and the Great Canal looked great and the three of us… well, we just had a very great time, just walking around like this together. Feliciano chatting fanatically with me about all the wonderful buildings and people around us, while Mimi held his hand and waved at everybody that passed us.

Using the money Antonio had given me, we left the road and entered the canal after stepping in one of the many lushly, dramatically decorated gondola's. We stared at the beautiful, fairytale-like environment around the canal in awe – well, I did, you don't see several buildings standing around in canals every day after all – while Feliciano started a random conversation with gondolier Ricardo, who he seemed to know pretty well. Meanwhile, Mimi was bored with the entire tour already after five minutes, so she spent the rest of the ride complaining that she was hot and wanted icecream.

After the ride in the gondola, we carried on walking where the gondolier had dropped us off and I bought us epic Italian icecream. Feliciano picked the strawberry-cheesecake flavor, Mimi settled with white-chocolate and I was more than happy to taste delicious lemon-cake icecream. But god, those things were expensive.

We wandered around some more until our icecream was eaten/throw away because Mimi didn't want it anymore, and before she could start complaining about her feet, I dragged them over to the vaporetti (or waterbus) that would give us yet another cool tour on the Grand Canal, but this time, it would lead us around a few of the city's islands, Murano, Pellestrina and Lido.

A breathtaking sight, of course, but not very interesting when you're a kid. Or Mimi, for all that matters. While we had lunch in the waterbus, Mimi demanded that she wanted to swim already, and Feliciano promised her that the first thing we would be doing after we had left the waterboat was look for the beach.

So yeah, the rest of the day, we spent chilling at the beach. Fortunately, Mimi didn't grow tired of the beach as swiftly as she had grown fed up with the other activities, so Feliciano and I could finally sit back and relax and watch Mimi, as she ran around with a little bucket and shovel, grinning broadly as she started building a castle out of sand.

She had some sunburns, of course, even though Feliciano had tried to shield her pale skin from the burning sun by smearing an impressively strong sunscreen (SPF 50! 50!) onto the most vulnerable parts of her body – like her face, arms and neck. But we saw her getting redder anyway, so yeah… we silently sobbed by the thought of having to endure and shush her cries of pure agony because of her burnt skin later today.

'Oh well – I have stashed in a load of aftersun-cream, so she'll be fine!' Feliciano said. 'I bet you have stuff like that for your kids as well, right Lovi?'

I grinned and moved my toes around in the sand. 'Yeah, but my god, Luisa always attempts to fucking kill me if I do as much as suggest to apply aftersun on her sunburns. Not that she burns very much – she has Antonio's skin.'

'Yeah?' Feliciano smiled and adjusted his sunglasses. 'And your boys? Can they handle the heat?'

'Ohh, Matteo doesn't even notice getting burnt alive in the sun,' I huffed, thinking about that one time in Turkey, when Matteo hobbled towards me to show me some crabs or whatever while crying in agony without even knowing why. 'And Alejo, he thinks getting sunburns is cool. He often makes all kinds of batshit-insane patrons on his skin with sunscreen, lets himself burn in the sun, and then he shows his raw, reddened skin off to me and Antonio. Who always passes out right after, since that Spanish wimp can't handle that kind of hardcore shit.'

Feliciano laughed. 'They'd bring a lot of life to Venice!~'

'They'd fucking destroy Venice,' I corrected him.

While Feliciano laughed some more, my hands found the dog tag around my neck – and I don't know why I didn't see it coming or why I allowed myself to respond like this all of a sudden, but I felt I was starting to tear up.

Fuck.

I missed them, dammit.

Why was I in Venice, chilling out with my brother and niece, while I could be in Spain doing the same things with Antonio and our kids, now that we still had a few peaceful weeks ahead of us?

No, I quickly told myself, harshly wiping my puffy eyes before Feliciano could see, I was on a mission here. I was going to bring Feliciano back home, back to Germany, before this goddamn week was over.

It was just coincidence today turned out to have been such a good day. It was just coincidence that I forgot all about trying to convince Feliciano that running away was a bad idea. It was just coincidence that I had focused more on having fun than anything else.

And it was also coincidence that I started to miss my own little family at home. Nothing more than that. I'd probably do better the next day.

'Yes,' I murmured to myself. I would. Definitely.

\0o0/

I didn't do better the next day.

And I didn't do better the day after the next day either.

Mind my words, I tried. I was constantly busy to point out all kind of things to Feliciano what he would miss if he didn't come back to Germany – while doing all kinds of fun activities with him and Mimi, of course. I told him about all the sex he'd miss, about the love and intimacy of the person that loved them both so much he'd miss as well, about the cons of being on the run with his daughter and about how much he'd hurt her by tearing her away from her other father.

Any chance I was given, I took. I swear. I did my stinking fucking best to remind him about all these things he and Mimi would miss out on.

But it seemed like it just… wasn't effective anymore.

Yeah, sure, I think I heard him cry in the middle of the night at least once during my stay, but the next day, he'd always be happy and peppy and ready to face the cruel world yet again. And Mimi? Mimi was just the same. No matter how unhappily she could bawl, she could conceal her feelings behind a bratty attitude just as easily. Looks like Feliciano's tactic rubbed off on her – more than he'd ever guess.

However, it wasn't just Feliciano's determinedly-joyful behavior that made me more desperate by the passing minute.

No – it was his counterattack. The more I said about Germany and home, the more he asked me about Antonio and the kids.

I didn't even mind it at first. On the contrary: I liked the fact that he showed interest in my family, and I happily told him about them all. But I noticed I always felt bad afterwards – bad and homesick.

It took me quite a while, but eventually, on day three, I finally understood what Feliciano was doing.

That fucking bastard was trying to repel me. Literally.

I pretended I didn't care and kept telling myself to keep smiling and to stay positive, to give him the idea that he failed, and I even went as far as to lie to Antonio about the progress I was making with Feliciano.

Antonio – who had been skeptical about my plan from the very start – was willing to buy my quasi-happy ramblings the first two days, became wary the third day, and the fourth day, he didn't say anything for a long time when I was bragging about that mini football-match I had won from Feliciano and Mimi that day - with a suspiciously shaky voice.

'Antonio?' I said, holding on to my cell with a sweaty hand. 'Did you hear what I said? No? Oh, that's okay, I'll tell you again! I—'

'Lovi, please come back home.'

My smile froze on my face. 'Wh-what?'

'I can't take it anymore.' Antonio sighed deeply and continued in a softer voice. 'I… I can't stand the fact you're lying to me about how you feel – and so badly, even. God, Lovino. You always sucked at lying.'

'I don't know what you're talking abou—'

'You've failed, Lovino.'

A rock the size of a house crashed down in my stomach, or so it felt, and I had to crouch – I'd tumble over otherwise.

'But Lovi, Lovi… that's okay! You tried! You tried very hard, even! But it's enough now, my love. Please, don't torture yourself any longer. Feliciano isn't coming back with you.'

I breathed in slowly and wanted to protest and nag at him for having no faith in me, but I had temporary lost the ability to speak. I realized, to my horror, that he was right.

Feliciano wasn't going to come home.

Germany wasn't going to see him again.

Mimi was going to miss one of her parents.

And I was going to miss one of my most important persons on Earth.

Perhaps forever.

Fuck.

'L-Lovi, m-my Lovi…' Antonio's voice cracked as he heard I was starting to sob, with hiccups and snot and everything, '…s-sweetie, don't cry. Come on… I-I can't even decently comfort you this way…'

'I wanted to bring him back,' I finally managed to stammer, trembling over my entire body. 'I-I wanted him to just… just try to believe in a better world, y-you know? B-but he… he's so fucking stubborn… and… a-and I miss you and the kids so much.'

'Lovino…' Antonio started to cry as well – silently. You couldn't hear him. But I knew he was.

'I think it's about time you went home, big brother,' a very sad, yet unbendable voice suddenly informed me and I made a choking sound, turning around immediately.

Feliciano, who had wandered outside as well, stared at me with unpredictable, red eyes, his arms folded together tightly, as if he was cold in his ridiculous PJ's.

'F-Feliciano.' I tried to save whatever I could, even though I know it was no use, and rubbed my eyes. 'I-I was just—'

'I'm tired of this.' Feliciano in- and exhaled rapidly. 'I'm tired of you, telling me how to live my life, and I'm tired of making you feel guilty. Don't hurt me, yourself, Antonio and your children any longer and go home already, Lovino.'

'B-but…!' I stuttered, letting my cell phone fall out of my hands.

'I know.' Feliciano bit his lower lip hard. 'But… but that's the way it is. You have made your decision and I have made mine.'

'F-Feliciano…'

Feliciano didn't even want to hear what I wanted to say anymore and shook his head bitterly.

'I want you to leave, big brother. As soon as possible.'