Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.

A/n1: This chapter is all about Raquel and Matteo's date – I just felt like I should pay more attention to them. I'm sorry, I can imagine it's kind of annoying for people who aren't waiting for them to get all lovey-dovey. I promise you that after this chapter, things will go fast. Very fast. Believe me.
But allow me to write a chapter like this, first. After all, I like writing romantic kissy-kiss thingies!~

A/n2: Well, I guess it's official: this fic really will have more chapters than "Bottoms-Up!". Um, yay, I guess? XDDDDDDDDD
I wonder just how many more chapters I have up my sleeve. I know you are curious to find out, but believe me, I'm just as curious as you are!
Right now, I'm guessing there probably will be at least 90 (fucking 90, whoaaaaaa) chapters, but it could always be more.
YES. MORE. Because I don't believe there will be less than 90 chapters, nope, certainly not. I know myself. I know myself too well, even.

A/n3: Last week to vote for your favorite pairing! 8DDDDDDDD If you haven't voted yet, do it this week, because when this week's over, you can't have a say in it any more.

~~ And Three Makes Five ~~

Chapter 79:

Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father.
Lydia Maria Child
(American abolitionist, women's rights activist, Indian rights activist, novelist and journalist)

'You're beautiful.'

That was the first thing Matteo told me after I had locked the door behind me and came walking his way, wearing the purple dress and an unsure, hopeful smile.

'Y-yeah?' I felt my entire body light up as soon as he said those words, if something like that was even possible. 'You… you like the dress?'

'I'm not talking about the dress and I'm not thinking about the dress either. I'm not even looking at the dress.' Matteo blushed, without a smile this time. 'It's you. You're… you're smiling, radiating, beaming, and it's making you look so gorgeous, I-I don't even know what to do with my hands.'

It was true, his hands were restless. He put them in his pockets, then he got them out again, then he rubbed his arms, then he scratched on something on his sleeve.

'Y-y-y-y-y-your brother,' I started, looking down and gulping, 'h-he really knows what's nice to wear. I-I almost never wear dresses, and yet, I still feel comfortable wearing this… um… thing. It's not too naked or anything, I-I mean, and… and it's classy! I like classy, I… um, it's… it's relaxing to wear…'

'You're beautiful,' Matteo repeated. 'I… god. I-I didn't know you could smile like that. I-I hoped you could, but it's even better than I expec… n-never mind, let me just hold the door open for you, o-okay?'

And he clumsily opened the door of the passenger's seat.

I looked up to glance at him, if only for a second, and felt surprised to see that Matteo was averting his eyes from me as well, as if looking at me for too long would make things happen that were both wanted and unwanted. He was blushing so hard, even his ears had started to change color. I kind of wanted to touch them for some reason – but I didn't, that… that would be too silly.

A-anyway, I breathed out softly and climbed into the van. It was a bit weird, the both of us looking like we were heading for some sort of red carpet event while sitting in an old van that looked like it had been driven over by a monstertruck not too long ago, but I couldn't care less right now.

After I had gotten in the van, Matteo stepped in as well and we drove off.

Neither one of us said a word as we made our way to that restaurant Matteo had in mind. We… just sat, listened to the radio and got sore necks from trying to keep on staring to the road in front of us, as natural as possible.

So of course, we both looked super-unnatural and very awkward and I felt I was getting anxious again.

According to the books, sites and movies, this was the part where the boy and the girl would make some pleasant conversation, crack some jokes, do some mild flirting, give each other pseudo-innocent, light touches of the hand. Like wooooops, did my hand really fall on your shoulder like that, hahahahaha, oh you, and… and stuff like that, but…. that didn't happen at all right now.

I dared to secretly sneak a peek to the side – and I my heart made a summersault when I caught him sneaking a peek at me as well. Matteo was just as startled by that as I was and almost rammed into the car in front of him, but aside from panting in relief after stopping in time, he still didn't say anything – and he still didn't smile, either.

Maybe it was up to me?

Oh god – that's what it was, wasn't it? It was my turn to make a move, and he was looking at me and waiting for me to get the hint already but I didn't get it and therefore he looked at me like "come on Raquel what's taking you so long do something flirty already look I even lost my criminally kind smile".

Quick! Do something, Raquel! Anything!

'Oops,' I heard myself monotonously utter a second later, and "accidentally" "dropped" my hand on his… shoulder.

…

Yeah.

Matteo immediately jumped a little and gave me a – still very speechless – look.

I looked back, my expression probably just as hysterical as I felt.

'My hand,' I explained, resisting the urge to instantly retreat said hand, 'it fell.'

'It… fell?' Matteo asked.

'Yes.'

'From your lap?'

'…yes.'

'So… your hand fell from your lap… onto my shoulder.'

'Accidentally,' I corrected him.

'Oh. Oh, right, of course – it accidentally fell from your lap onto my shoulder.'

Oh god. I swallowed something bitter in my mouth and muttered an ashamed 'sorry' as I pulled my hand back, pressing it against my chest and wondering what the hell was I doing, oh god oh god oh god…

But then I heard Matteo chuckle, and when I had gathered enough courage to look up at him again, I saw he was looking at me as well, finally – even though he kept glancing to the road in front of him as well. But that was normal.

'You're beautiful as well, you know,' I said, for no good reason at all, and therefore I kind of wanted to bonk my head against the side-window. But I kept yapping.

'And cute. You're very cute. You have no idea how cute you are, Matteo. It's making my hand fall on… shoulders. Like, yours.'

Matteo's cheeks got pinkish again. 'You're acting like a prince again, you know that?'

'Is that bad?'

'No. It makes me shy, though.' He grinned embarrassedly and switched gears. 'I don't think a girl ever complimented me as much as you do. It's pretty strange. In a nice way.'

'It's my fault. I-I'm not used to doing these kind of things,' I explained.

'It IS your fault. It's all your fault indeed.'

I gave him an apologizing look, only to flush heavily when I saw he smiled ridiculously lovingly at me. So he wasn't feeling angry with me?

I pushed some annoying, short bangs of my hair back behind my ears and frowned. This was so very confusing. A confusing road of weirdness. I didn't know where it ended and were it began.

'Maybe you should let your hand fall on me again,' Matteo then suggested.

'I kind of want it to fall on your ears,' I blurted out, abruptly throwing all of my thoughts about confusion out of the window.

He stared at me. 'My… my ears?'

'Y-yes, they're red and… and cute and… s-sorry,' I murmured, fumbling with a piece of threat.

Matteo made a soft little sound and pulled over all of a sudden, turning off the engine and giving me his full attention immediately after.

'Keep this kind of behavior up tonight and I will steal it.'

'S-steal what?' I stammered.

Matteo gave a me troubled, desperate and somewhat complex glare, before tapping his finger on his lips – swiftly, and just two times, but it was enough to get the message through.

'O-oh.' I didn't know what else to say, really.

'W-well, anyway…' Matteo breathed in and out deeply and ran a hand through his hair, before undoing his seatbelt, '…we're at the restaurant, Raquel. Let's go inside, okay?'

'We're there already?' I was surprised, that was one fast trip! 'O-okay.'

'Wait, wait a second, don't go out yet…'

Matteo got out of the van, hurried himself around the vehicle and opened the door for me, a more confident smile resting on his lips as he reached out a hand to me.

'Let me help you get out.'

I smiled as well, although it wasn't nearly as big as his smile, and timidly took his offered hand. Then I carefully climbed out of the car, supported by Matteo, and took a good look at the restaurant in front of the both of us. It was a gigantic restaurant, surrounded by lamps and decorations that made the building look like it was covered in gold.

'It's a nice restaurant, or so I've heard,' Matteo said, as he casually put my hand on his arm and kept his own hand right on top of it. 'According to some of my friends, they have the best waiters and waitresses in the entire city of Madrid, and reasonable prices as well. It's fancy, but not too fancy – it's not like they get super-rich people or refuse to serve to children. They do have a dress-code, but that's only at night. What do you think?'

'Y-your hand's warm,' I said.

'Y-yeah.' Matteo patted my hand. 'I… you… yeah. It is.'

'A-and it's a nice restaurant!' I quickly carried on, afraid I might had offended him. 'I-I really appreciate you made reservations at a place like this. I… I don't believe I've ever eaten in such a spectacular building…'

'It's a great building, right?' Matteo grinned excitedly at me. 'Just look at the structure of it – the architect really knew what he was doing when he built this place! The way he made the light fall in through those windows, the placements of those lamps, even the little painted images on the door – you see? – it's all well-thought through, and I love it!~'

I chuckled. 'You like architecture that much?'

'Oh, yes! I do! But there are many things I like. And I bet there are many things you like as well.' Matteo softly pulled me with him as we made our way to the big front doors of the restaurant. 'I can't wait to find out more about you, Raquel.'

'Yes,' I hoarsely replied – because oh god, how should I tell him that there was nothing special I could tell him about me, simply because I had no idea who I was, exactly? I mean, I could only tell him bad things about myself – not exactly the greatest way to get to know somebody, right?

Well, I… I guess we'd see… nothing much I could do apart from that, right…?

RSS

Matteo and I got a table next to a big, heavenly-lit window with a view on the street. Everything was eliminated with this… this yellowish-golden glow, and it was beautiful. I could safely say these were great seats, and I really enjoyed myself a lot already, even though I knew there were probably going to be lots and lots of questions that Matteo would ask me. But, like I had told myself right before entering the restaurant: let's just see what would happen. Maybe, if I played this the right way, I wouldn't have to tell Matteo a single things about myself.

'So,' I therefore hastily started, right after a waiter had wrote down our orders and delivered our drinks, 'tell… tell me something about yourself, Matteo. What kind of person are you, what do you want in life, what are your greatest likes and dislikes, what do you want to be in the future?'

'Wow, so many questions!' Matteo said. 'Um, well, what can I say? I'm a pretty nice guy, I hope, I'm 24 years old and all I really want from life is to live a long and happy, fulfilling life in which I can reach at least a few of the goals I've set out for myself. I… love my family very much, they're very important to me, and Mia's the best thing that ever happened to me. I haven't played much with her in quite a while, I should really do that after I've picked her up from my parents' place tomorrow.'

I smiled a bit broader. 'Mia seems to be a very nice girl, very sweet and creative!'

'She is!' Matteo got this adorable daddy-vibe over himself and even flushed. 'Mia's… well, she's such a good girl! She never complains, she always goes to bed all by herself and she never asks me to make time for her. She's always been like that, always trying to think about what's best for me… but even more ever since… her mother passed away.'

His smile grew sadder, I noticed, and I felt a pang near the area of my heart.

'How… how long has it been, if I may ask…?'

'A bit more than two years.' Matteo studied the lace placemat in front of him. 'She didn't know she was sick. She looked like she was very healthy. But then it turned out she had a – a thing in her head that was slowly killing and destroying her from the inside.'

'A-a brain tumor?' I asked softly – but way too early and very uncalled for.

'That's what it was, yes.' Matteo sighed and clenched the glass of mineral water he had ordered in-between his hand. 'It wasn't a malignant tumor… she could have survived – if only we had discovered it sooner. But we hadn't. The tumor was able to quietly grow bigger and bigger, until she suddenly, out of nowhere, just… stopped functioning. It's called a mass-effect: your brain can't handle the pressure anymore that the tumor causes and many of your organs and nerves all at once get severely damaged. She-she wasn't savable anymore when we got her into a hospital. She died just a few hours later.'

I stared at him in shock. 'That's… that's horrible, Matteo… You didn't even see it coming…'

'I-I didn't. She didn't. We all didn't.' He paused a few seconds. 'Kay was… was my first love. A dark, smart and stunning beauty from South America. She also was a florist, and she knew a lot more about plants and flowers than I did. She was much wiser than I was and I thought for a long time there was no way such a clever woman would want to date me. But she turned out to be in love with me as well, and we started living together pretty soon. We opened our own flower shop – she took care of the incomes and expenses, I took care of the customers – and I thought our happiness was complete when she gave birth to our pretty daughter a year later.'

I felt I unconsciously started squeezing my own arms. 'She… she sounds like an amazing person.'

'She was. She was strong – well, she looked strong from the outside, but she was weak from the inside, or so it turned out…'

'I-I'm so sorry for your loss.'

I looked down. I was no Kay. If I had to believe Matteo, Kay was one of those persons you, as a girl, really, really want to be, but could never get even close to, no matter how hard you try. An independent, confident and mature woman – and she died just as easily as she seemed to live. God, what a waste of a wonderful human being. No wonder Matteo hadn't been with another girl ever since losing her.

'Don't compare yourself to her,' Matteo suddenly said.

I jolted my head up. 'Wh-what?'

Matteo gave me a stern, focused look. 'I'm not sure why you look depressed all of a sudden, but… please don't compare yourself to Kay. She was wonderful, yes, and I still miss her, and I will always miss her – but it's no use to think sad thoughts. I have mourned her for two years and I'll probably mourn her for many more years, but… but that doesn't mean I… I can't ignore the fact that in spite of all that, I'm… I'm falling for you, Raquel. Every second, I'm falling for you more and more.'

I breathed out so slowly it almost hurt. 'Y-you… you…'

'I realized in the car just now.' Matteo looked me in the eye. 'It scared me. I-I haven't felt like this in a long, long time, Raquel. I knew I liked you, and I always knew there probably were more passionate feelings for you, hidden within me, waiting for something to wake them up… b-but I hadn't expected them to get triggered this soon – this… this arrogantly fast… but I can't deny it anymore, or try to pretend my feelings for you aren't serious.'

His hands reached over the table, to grab mine and squeeze them lightly, maybe even hopefully.

'I'm in love with you, my Highness.'

It was hard to describe what went on inside my body right at that moment. A knot appeared, bound together with a strange mixture of joy and anxiousness, an explosion happened, one from pure happiness, while dark hands clawing at that happiness at the same time, an urge welt up, the urge to burst out crying out of delight – and out of pure, paralyzing fear.

Matteo told me the words I had dreaded to hear and that I had wanted to hear more than any other words, and it was killing me in the best kind of way.

Oh god.

This was it.

This feeling.

It was so blatantly obvious.

'I want to date you,' Matteo went on, gently intertwining our fingers together, making me shiver and tremble. 'Please date me, Raquel.'

I was in love with him, too.

I wanted to answer him, right away – but I didn't know what I should tell him. Images of both Spain and South Italy twirled through my mind, gnawing on my brain, hissing at me that my plan had failed, epically.

He wasn't willing to get out of my life after all this. Matteo wanted to date me. I wouldn't be able to push him away from me all that easily anymore, now that he had confessed he was in love with me, now that I knew I felt the same, now that these thoughts and feelings were ripping me apart from the inside.

But… w-what should I do…?

'Sorry for the wait, dear guests!' an upbeat voice suddenly broke the lovely, suffocating spell that held its grip on me, and both Matteo and I looked up in slight annoyance when several waiters and waitresses with plates filled with food gathered themselves around our table.

'Please allow us to tell you what lip-smacking courses you're about to devour – oh, and please let go of each other, I'm afraid we won't be able to place all the plates on your table if you keep finger-humping like that.'

That had to be the first time I saw something like outright anger appearing in Matteo's eyes, and even though I still was as upset and troubled as I could be, his expression made me laugh a bit – I had never seen him this irritated before.

'I want an answer,' Matteo said, completely ignoring the sing-songy way in which the waiters and waitresses introduced and put down our ordered meals. 'Let's enjoy our food and have a good time, but Raquel – I want an answer, before we leave this place. Is that okay with you?'

I didn't seem to have all that much options if you asked me – b-but that was alright. I needed this. I needed a determined person that kindly forced me to make decisions I rather not be confronted with at all, ever.

'Okay,' I therefore muttered, almost whispered, 'o-okay…'

RSS

We ate.

We enjoyed the food.

We talked about the weather and other silly, funny nothings.

We smiled.

We had a good time.

And after desert, I was on the verge of breaking down.

Especially when Matteo, after putting down his spoon and gentlemanly wiping his mouth with a posh serviette, stared at me, waiting.

Then, it happened.

'I can't date you,' I blurted out at that, my voice skipping a few times. 'I-I'd love to date you – but… but I can't. I'm a horrible person. I'm depressed. I don't know who I am. But I know who you are – I even know who your parents are.'

Without a second thought, I told him everything. About the past. About Spain and South Italy. About my parents. About my mother. About the PPSS. About the role I played in all of this. About the neighbors. About the condition in which I was in when he met me. About my plan. My lies. About the awfulness that was me.

I must have talked non-stop for at least… I don't know, at least fifteen minutes, at most a bit more than half an hour. All came out. I could no longer hide it – I just had to tell him everything I had carefully hidden from him in the past few days.

Matteo listened to me without interrupting me. He had folded his hands and fingers together and rested them against the lower part of his face, his eyes unreadable as I stumbled and fell over my words and confessions. I didn't know what he was thinking – it could be both hate or indifference, but it could also be another awful thing, an awful thing I hadn't thought about yet, and I couldn't stand it – what was it, what are you thinking about, why aren't you saying anything?

I talked until my throat was dry and sour form speaking. The moment I closed my mouth and tried to swallow was the same moment the silence from his side of the table really started to stand out.

The quietness lasted for minutes that passed like days - but then, abruptly, a live-band started to play. It was a very classy band, of course, like you could expect at a place like this. Kind violins and soft piano-music filled the beautiful chamber, soothing some of my tense muscles, making them relax, at least a little bit.

Matteo and I listened to the music for a while, before Matteo suddenly raised from his chair, walked over to mine and bent over ever so slightly.

'Would you care to dance with me, Raquel?'

He smiled.

Why did he smile?

He didn't have a reason to smile so honestly at me, not a single one!

'Bu-bewuhh-um…' I vaguely stuttered, blinking rapidly.

'Don't be shy, there are more couples dancing on the floor, see?' He nodded with his head into a certain direction, but I didn't look.

'M-Matteo…'

'Come.'

Matteo took my hand, pulled me off my seat and guided me to the small, but carefully waxed wooden dance floor. We merged into the small group of other pairs that had already made their way to the floor – three couples, I think – and in one smooth motion, he pulled me closer, put his free hand on my waist and started to move. No, not move – he started to dance. And I had no other choice but to follow his example and lead.

My eyes were open wide as we danced over the floor like that. I was flabbergasted, really – what… what was even going on? One moment I was almost bawling my eyes out after confessing to Matteo all these nasty things that I had done, and the next moment, I was dancing with him like my confession had never happened at all – like it had been a bad dream. Or was this the dream? I didn't know anymore…

'M-Matteo,' I tried again – forced myself to try again, 'w-why are we dancing – shouldn't you be… leaving me?'

'Um, no?' Matteo gave me a half-amused, half confused look. 'Why should I be leaving you?'

'Because of everything I just told you!' I glared at him and wanted to harshly grip his hand, but I didn't. 'Didn't you listen? All those things I did, I—'

'I hope I can make it better.' Matteo smiled kindly at me and shook his head. 'All those bad memories, those shattering thoughts and feelings, that awkward image you have of yourself and the world – I really hope you can allow me to make them all seem and feel better.'

I looked at him, silenced.

'Raquel.' Matteo pressed his forehead against mine. 'I don't blame you for anything. You were a child. You grew up in an unsafe environment, with parents that may have cared for you, but not enough – not enough by far. You have seen and felt the most hideous things. You were all by yourself for such a long time, suffering, fighting, trying to find out who you were, clinging onto the last bits of connection to your deceased mother by doing what she always did, forgetting all about yourself and what you wanted.'

'I-I—'

'You really expect me to abandon you for that?'

'I never told you your parents lived right next door,' I mumbled as I fired my next shot. 'Not even when I realized who you were.'

'You wanted to guide me to them anyway,' Matteo said, closing his eyes for a few seconds. 'More than ready to discard yourself in order to help me, once again.'

'Um—'

'Your plan was doomed to fail anyway – if you hadn't told me all of this, I would've met them at the Sagrada Família anyway, when we would make the preparations or the anniversary party.'

I pursed my lips together and squeezed my eyes shut as well. 'I-I would've thought of something to get rid of you. I'm sure. That's how weak I am.'

'You're not weak. You're depressed. You might feel weak – but you're not.' He wrapped both of his arms around me and hugged me, still moving. 'You're so strong, Raquel. After months of feeling sad and left behind, you decided to choose life at the very last second – you chose to follow a very small ray of light, possibly the smallest, most unworthy-looking ray of light of all, but you went and followed it anyway. You're the strongest person I've ever met.'

I let out a soft moan and buried my face in his shoulder. My eyes started to hurt and I was shaking again, gripping and holding on to Matteo for dear life. I felt so relieved. So very, very relieved. I thought I'd pass out from exhaustion – that's how relieved I felt.

But I kept holding him – and the longer I held him, the more I wanted to fight for him.

'Date me,' Matteo whispered.

'But… but I don't even know who I am.' It was my last, desperate, half-hearted attempt to push him away. 'Y-you really want to date a girl that doesn't know who she is?'

'You'll figure out who you are, step by step.' He stopped dancing and collected my burning, throbbing face in his warm hands. 'And if you let me, I'll gladly help you with that, my Highness.'

I sobbed and let my hands run over his wrists and hands.

'I-I'd like that.'

Matteo smiled, moving his own face closer to mine.

'Date me, Raquel.'

I looked at him, at this… this strange angel with all his weird, cute and adorable tics and habits, and nodded, returning his smile.

'I'd like that.'

The look Matteo gave me was priceless – in the best kind of way. I had never before seen two beautiful eyes stare at me like that, so very happy, so very grateful, so… s-so… s-s-s-so…

I gulped and tried to calm myself down when Matteo didn't release my face but brought it even closer to his, his lips tenderly kissing my tearful eyes, his hands caressing the contours of my face. Then he kissed my forehead, my nose and my cheeks, placing little tokens of his feelings for me all over my face, until I could literally feel his lips hovering above mine.

'Raquel. I…' He hesitated, a thumb slowly tracing over my lower lip. He didn't say anything more, but he didn't have to – his face grew redder when our eyes met, almost just as red as mine was.

'I-I-I…I'd like th—' I started stammering, but that was all I was able to get out before Matteo, first softly, then steadily more eagerly, silenced me.

Again and again and again, until I could only breathe and taste the same air he did, and nothing more.

'I'll care for you,' he rasped against my lips in-between kisses. 'I'll care for you, my Highness…'

It was a good thing my stupid, lame, overjoyed tears of shameless happiness didn't stop him.

RSS

Maybe this was weird, but starting from the moment Matteo finally stopped kissing me to the moment the both of us were standing in front of my house again, I don't remember much. It was like all that happened afterward our mouths met just wasn't important anymore. My head was filled with cottony clouds, my eyes stung and my heart was painfully swollen, but it all felt great. That was all that mattered. Nothing else.

'This… this was a great evening,' Matteo said, holding both of my hands in his as we stood just outside my house.

I could only nod and grin like a moron. My lips were bruised and hurt. He kissed like a hungry animal. I hoped he'd kiss me again.

'So… we're a couple now, right?' Matteo chuckled and blushed, cutely and lovely.

'Y-yeah,' I said. 'W-we are.'

'Great!~'

'Y-yes!'

Then we stopped talking and awkwardly smiled at each other. Because, um, what… what now? What were we supposed to do now? I didn't really know – I had no experience in these kind of things, so… well, he should tell me.

'Um… and now?' I asked him in a quiet voice. 'Do you want to come in or something, before you go home?'

Matteo flushed so rapidly I was afraid he might had burst some veins in his face.

'Y-y-you mean… you-you want me to stay over?'

My turn to turn unbelievably red, since that idea actually sounded very nice to me.

'W-would you want to…?'

'Isn't… that too fast?' he said, frowning. 'I mean, I… I really like being with you, Raquel, and of… of course I'd be more than happy to… sleep… y-you know… but…'

'But?' I blinked. I didn't really understand why he was acting all embarrassed.

'Y-you're vulnerable. I'm vulnerable. You… we don't really know each other that well yet. I'm afraid I might hurt you, since I've never spent the night with… with a girl like you before. You'll be my second love, you see. I… it… u-um… wh-what if…'

I tilted my head, utterly confused by his shy behavior, until sudden realization struck me like a lightning bolt. I swallowed a lump, then I swallowed another lump, and then I looked at him, straight in the eye.

'Did… did I ever tell you what kind of bigleaf hygranea I bought for you?'

It was amazing – Matteo lost the helpless schoolboy-act like someone had just slapped him in the face. His wringing hands stopped fumbling with my own and his blush faded – if only a bit.

'What are you up to,' he muttered under his breath.

'Did I tell you or not?'

'You didn't.'

'W-well.' I breathed in deeply and shakily, but I was determined. 'There… there are many cultivars of these flowers. You have kinds that are called… Altona, and Penny Mac, and… and even… Madame Emile Mouillère…'

Matteo's eyes were dark, brooding and waiting.

I licked my lips. This was kind of exciting.

'The… t-the pink ones in the bouquet… are called Forever Pink – they apparently only appear in pink – and the blue ones are the so-called Blue Wave-flowers… but… but they can be pink as well. There are also a few Marechal Foch-flowers in the bouquet, and they have are called after a French military theori—'

I stopped talking when Matteo put a finger on my now slightly moist lips.

'I get it the message, Raquel – believe me, I'm quivering like a leaf – I get it. But are you sure?'

Matteo gave me a worried look, it all of a sudden just… broke through his ridiculously manly appearance – which only made me like him more and more, and more, and even more.

'N-no, ' I still honestly answered him, as soon as he pulled his finger away. 'I'm not sure. But I want it. I really, really want it – I really want you, all of you, as much of you as possible.'

Matteo's conflicted feelings were clearly visible on his face.

Oh! Could it be that…?

'Hey, don't panic, I'll… I'll make sure everything goes well, okay?' I gave him a – hopefully – reassuring smile, patting his face. 'You don't have to worry about it. I know it might be scary for you, since you've never been with someone as inexperienced as me, but I'll take care of you, I promise!'

Matteo's jaw dropped. 'Are you comforting me?'

'Um, well, I—'

I yelped, startled when Matteo suddenly grunted and collected me in his arms, lifting me up, giving me no other choice but to wrap my arms around him as well.

'Now listen to me and listen to me closely, you… you cute, princely, elegant, weird girl that you are,' he started passionately, pressing me against the wall, 'tonight, you are going to be the one that's going to get taken care of, you are going to get the love and attention you've been waiting for – and I'll personally make sure that you are the one person on this whole planet that doesn't have to bother a single thought about anything but the two of us.'

'Oh,' I murmured, gently touching his neck as he rubbed his nose against mine.

'Trust me,' he whispered. 'Okay? Trust me, my Highness.'

After giving him a shy, affirmative nod of the head, Matteo simply took the keys from me and he carried me in.

RSS

It was a bit difficult to walk up the stairs to the bedroom with a contently filled tray – I mean, the bread, cheese, ham and tomatoes weren't really heavy to carry, and the plates and cups weren't too much trouble either, but… I-I walked a bit funny, y-you see, so it was kind of hard.

I was lucky Matteo hadn't woken up when I had slipped out of bed this morning. I had to wiggle away from his soft body, out of his hugging arms, but he didn't notice a thing – he just kept snoring. Matteo snored, how about that? That was just adorable, so adorable. I chuckled and giggled sheepishly. Oh, I should tell him later! I wonder what he'd say about that.

Anyway, I had reached the door of my bedroom.

It was closed.

Ugh. Now why had I closed that darn door behind me again? I mean, seriously? How was I supposed to get in like this now – use my feet? My teeth?

No, wait – elbows! I was blessed with the miracle that were elbows. Yes!

But a second later I found myself glaring at the doorknob.

Oh.

…

Well, no other choice but to put it down, I suppose.

The tray – not the knob.

I don't think you can put down doorknobs, since they don't live. Unless you mean put down on the floor, I guess. But then again, looking at it from that perspective, you can't put down trays either, since…

Maybe I should just get going already.

So I put the tray on the floor for a second, opened the door again and took the tray once again, sneakily shuffling/limping inside the room. There, I carefully put it on a lone chair, there, like that, and then I closed the door again, and then—

'What are you doing?'

I jolted a bit when Matteo's still drowsy voice reached my ears and hurriedly turned around to face him.

Oh god, just look at him, he looked so endearing, with his hair all messed up and his eyes all small and sleepy, and that smile, and that everything. I could kiss it all – but I wouldn't. Well. Not yet.

'I–!' I started, snatching the tray from the chair and standing upright, 'I-I made you breakfast! For in bed! Like, breakfast-in-bed! Um. I-I don't know why I shouted all that.'

'What!' Matteo gasped, shocked, and got out of bed – but his legs were tangled up with something, so he fell down with a smack.

I should have rushed to his side, probably, but I had that tray and all I could do was burst out in a fit of almost-muffled giggles.

'N-no, no!' Matteo whined in the meantime while he got up, wearing absolutely nothing. 'Aww – and I was thinking about making you breakfast!'

'But I'm just so much faster,' I - surprisingly! - smugly said, trying not to look… down there. 'Um… now, if you could just go back into bed, then I'll go back downstairs and fetch the tea…'

But Matteo came to me and took over the tray, putting it down on the bed. Then he pulled me closer and gave me a kiss that made me tremble and lean in for more.

'…how about you go back into bed, hmm? I saw you walk, you need some… um… comfort. Then I'll go get the tea.'

I smiled and embraced him excitedly. 'O-okay…!'

'Also…' Matteo mused, his fingers drawing small circles on my cheeks.

'Y-yeah?'

'Do you… um… d-do you have a spare pair of pajama-pants or anything…?'