Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.

A/n1: As most of you know by now, I'm once again an intern at a high school. I'm teaching Dutch to "troublesome" teenagers around the age of 15, 16 years (some older ones, some younger ones) and it's both creepy and very exciting for me to once again be able to stand in front of a classroom again.
I really like interacting with kids, and although it's hard to teach Dutch to others – believe me, it's downright torture sometimes since nobody really gets it, not even me – I'm so happy to be working at a school again on Wednesdays!^^
One of my co-workers at my job didn't get it. 'Why would you want to be a teacher,', he asked me, 'they don't respect teachers nowadays. They treat you like shit. They think so very lowly of you. How do you manage to keep up with that?'
I couldn't answer, since I didn't know what to say. Keep in mind I'm only at school once a week – I don't really know what's it like to be a teacher yet.
But I still feel happy when I'm walking around in a class, helping out a boy who doesn't know how to solve a problem, talking to a girl about her abusive boyfriend, making a kid laugh that was having a bad day – it's these kind of things that make me feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to do.
And it's the biggest relief ever to know that I'm doing what I think I am meant to do. I hope you all feel that wonderful, "this-is-it" –feeling I'm talking about one day!^^

A/n2: We have a winning couple, ladies and gentlemen: the pairing I'm going to write about is Neth/Liech. Yaaaaaaay, flowers and confetti everywhere, whoohoo! *celebrates*
It was a very close call, I have to say! For a long time, this pairing, Luisa and Seb and Lovi and Toni were all having the same amount of votes, and only this week, the casting vote (hope I wrote that in the right context!) came in.I'm going to write it as soon as I can, which won't be all that soon. Um. But I'll try!
Like I said, you can expect the one-shot on either the 25th or the 26th of December. It's going to be a awfully fluffy fic, since I love writing those things, and I hope you'll like it! 8DDDDDDDDD

A/n3: One thing that I learned at my school so far is that (Dutch) literature, or the literature that's considered worthy of your time since it's just so very awesome and special and intelligent and stuff…
…is BORING and LAME AS FUCK.
Sorry, but literature? No fun to read. No. Fun. At. All. I managed to struggle myself through two books, but the third one ("Joe Speedboot", if you want to know)? I can't plow through it. It's so… pointless. Every time I try to read it, my brain goes like 'wow what am I even reading?" and then I'll put it down again.
Also, I'm currently reading THREE DAMN BOOKS at the same time – a children's book from 1930, a book about a teacher and that… that speedboat/speetboot thing.
Guess what book I like reading the most of these three?

A/n4: Expected an exciting chapter? Sorry – but this turned out to be one of those chapters you just need to write before the rest of the happenings can… uh… happen.
So yeah, looks like I was wrong about the "oh my things will go so very fast now WHOA!".What a surprise. *groans*
Once again, sorry for that! I hope you still like the chapter! ^^

~~ And Three Makes Five ~~

Chapter 80:

There is no better cure for the fear of taking after one's father, than not to know who he is.
André Gide
(French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature)

So anyway.

Seb had friends. Dutch friends – friends that had emigrated to Spain as well because of a lover, a job or because of something else (too much money probably, those rich assholes). They sometimes went to do something together every once in a few weeks, and apparently, Seb had planned to travel back to the Netherlands at more or less the same time two of his friends would. They had an early flight, Seb had a late flight. They'd wait for Seb at the airport of Eindhoven and stuff and go do all kind of guy things, yadayada, not interesting at all.

Anyway, one of Seb's Dutch friends got sick (it was either Karel or that other guy, with the strange Frisian name, Jelte or Tjibbe or Shdfhdgfeyefd-ke) and he wasn't able to take his early flight – and that bastard offered his ticket to Seb, so he could leave his beloved and charming and very pregnant girlfriend all by herself quicker than one could say 'but wait no Seb you douche what about the gynecologist we'd go together dammit'.

…but it's a fairly long sentence, so I guess saying 'here's my ticket man' is quicker to say anyway.

But still.

That blond asswipe would take the early flight now, which would leave around one o'clock in the afternoon, meaning he'd be unable to come with me to that doctor's appointment. And that was unforgivable.

'You bastard.'

I stared at Seb with tears in my eyes as he stood in the door opening, all dressed up, the horrible yellow suitcase already put in the cab he had called earlier. His flight wouldn't leave in another couple of hours, but he had to be there early – all kinds of stupid airport rules, I had no idea, I had never flown before – so now, around 11 in the morning, he was ready to leave me behind. I felt a lot like that lonely Remy kid of that one story, what's it called – with the old man and the dogs and then everything fucking dies and shit. Yes, that one.

Seb gave me an emotionless look – as always, like I said, that was just the way his face hated on him – before wrapping his arms around me and pulling me against him. I still wore my PJ's (well it was still morning) and he wore clothes and the like, so you bet it felt awkward.

'I'm sorry, Luu. I really am. But I can't wait any longer. I have just as many rights to find out about my background as any other person – including you – and so, I will.'

'You said you'd come to the gynecologist with me, you jerk.' I curled my fingers against his jacket. 'Y-you practically promised me last time.'

'What would you have done, then?' Instead of trying to make things better, like most normal boyfriends would, Seb simply put his blunt finger on a touchy spot and rubbed it like an idiot. 'Say, if you had gotten the chance to meet your parents right now, right away – or faster than you had imagined in the first place, let's put it that way – wouldn't you have taken that chance with both of your hands?'

'Fuck you,' I growled and wanted to push him away – but Seb didn't even budge, he just gripped me firmer and kissed me.

Pretty intensely, too.

…

W-well that was… u-um… I-I didn't mind that all… that much, I'll give him that…

'Now,' Seb breathed out as soon as he stopped… bugging my lips, 'I'll give you a call when I board the plane, okay? And I'll call you when I've landed, and I'll call you when I'm at my parents' place, and I'll also call you when I'm buying you stupid "please forgive me" -presents at a lame souvenir-shop. You like clogs, right?'

I giggled – no, snorted a bit in-between my soft pants. 'K-keep your damn clogs – I don't want them, they're fucking ugly and awful to wear.'

He nodded understandingly. 'Pink ones it will be.'

'Are you even listening to me!'

'I'll miss you. Every single minute of the time I'll spend in the Netherlands, I'll miss you.' Seb smiled a rare, kind smile at me as he caressed my cheeks and wiped some tears from my eyes. 'And I love you, Luu. Please don't forget that.'

'I-I won't.'

'Also, please answer my calls. I'll look so silly otherwise and my friends and sister will totally make fun of me. They're all massive assholes, after all.'

'Don't give me ideas, you… you dick,' I huffed – but I realized that I was actually being very unreasonable here.

Seb and I were a steady couple for almost three years now. He had been a transfer-student from the Netherlands that had decided to go study Business & Communication in Spain instead of his own country, which made no sense at all, since the business and communication-shit in the Netherlands is a lot better than here in Spain (meaning: more work over there then here). But Seb was Seb, strange and unreadable as always, and off he went, to Spain, to the same university as me, at that moment.

I met him, he met me, he tried to woo me for a whole year before I finally admitted I kind of liked him as well, I left school, he finished it, and as soon as I had agreed to live with him, he went and made sure he had a good job and became a full-fledged resident of Spain.

While barely knowing any Spanish at all, that lazy ass.

Good thing his English (and the English of the corporation he worked for) wasn't too bad.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is…

Seb had been living here for years now, without his family, without many of his friends at home, and he had given all of that up – for me. He was kind of a family man: he called his parents and his sister on a daily basis, and during special days, like the holidays or his own birthday, he got pretty quiet and sometimes even sad if he had to spend those days without them.

…so really, I shouldn't be so unreasonable. Seb had given up his country for me – then the least I could do was give up a week for him.

'I have to go now,' Seb murmured, after giving me one final kiss. 'Will you let me know how everything went at the gynecologist? Just send me a message as soon as you know more.'

'As if you'll be able to read it – you're not allowed to have an active telephone when you're flying, you douchebag, you once told me yourself.'

'I'll text you back right away.'

'What! You can't do that – you'll disturb the plane…machineries!'

'Oh. Good point.'

'Yes, I—'

'But I'll text you back right away.'

'Seb, really, you—'

'Are you ready to leave, sir?'

The cabdriver suddenly appeared right behind Seb, making me utter an embarrassed shriek and pushing Seb away from me as fast as I could. I didn't like to be close to him in public – hell, I even had troubles holding hands with him in public, dammit.

But as a result, Seb now said good-bye to me with a neutral nod of the head and a very unsatisfying pat on my head – and I brushed his hand off my hair as soon as possible, even.

'I love you, cutie,' he told me once again while following the cabdriver.

'Y-yeah,' I replied, folding my arms tightly and lowering my head as he disappeared out of my sight and the apartment complex.

'…y-y-yeah, I-I know…'

At times like these, I despised myself so much.

o\00/

When Seb left, I could have done two things, really:

1: Crawl back into bed and cry my eyes all red and painful until I either had to hurl again or had to leave for the appointment with the gynecologist, or…

2: Call Alejo and Matteo already and tell them to stay the hell away from our biological parent's place because of The Scheme that they didn't know anything about but I did hahahaha and I was about to tell them about it.

I didn't know what the two of them were up to – maybe they both were waiting for me to take action, like they always do, like when we have to buy presents for one of our fathers, since those stupid jerks always forgot birthdays – but still. I had to make sure neither of them did something that could endanger The Scheme.

And because I like calling my brothers more than I liked crying until everything became blurry and ugly, I called my brothers, starting with Alejo.

'Hi Lulu, how nice of you to call me just after I banged my girlfriend!~ Always a pleasure to hear my sister's voice right after a very satisfying orgasm. Awkward – but a pleasure.'

'You're such a fucking creep, Alejo, god!' I nagged at him, shuddering. 'Please tell me you're lying – seriously, I'll throw my cell phone in the dishwasher if you don't and you know how expensive those things are!'

'In that case – I lied, dearest sister, I'm actually painting a wonderful painting of a summer sky with light, pastel colors, soothing, tranquil music is playing on the background and there's no sign of a naked girlfriend in the peaceful room I'm currently in whatsoever.'

'Thank you.' I let out a puff of air. 'Anyway, about this phone call…'

I explained him what our situation was right now, told him about The Scheme and I told him I felt like a fucking Remy because that Dutch piece of shit had totally left me all by myself and also, I had to go to that scary gynecologist and I craved for some chocolate, and with "some" chocolate, I meant a Mount Everest – amount of chocolate, naturally.

'So you're going to trick Papa Lovi and Papa Toni into letting us in, huh?' Alejo said, ignoring my whining about Seb and chocolate. 'Sounds challenging. Think you can handle it?'

'I'll have to,' I sighed. 'But don't worry, I am planning to study a bit on doctor-thingies before going there next week.'

'Yeah, you always were very good at that,' Alejo said. 'How many studies did you fail again?'

'It were only five studies and I didn't FAIL, I just didn't want to DO those studies anymore.'

'Whatever.' Alejo chuckled. 'Anyway, thanks for telling me, Lulu. Better make sure you go to our parents' place well prepared, alright – and if there's anything Teo and I could do to help you out, just say the word. You don't have to do this all by yourself.'

'I-I know.' I plucked on the hem of my shirt. 'Thanks.'

'At what time do you have that appointment with the gynecologist?'

'Um, around 3:30, I guess—'

'I'll come with you, then.'

'Oh.' I felt a smile tugging on the corners of my mouth. 'You… is that alright? You won't get into trouble at work, will you?'

'Naaah, you know Paco – he'll understand.'

'O-okay. Thank you, Alejo. I-I'd really like that.'

'Anything for my bossy little sister!~' he grinned. 'Now, was that all? I have more to… paint.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Yeah, that was all, that was all – please don't say anything more.'

'BUT THE COLORS. I should describe them all to you – VIVIDLY!'

'BYE, ALEJO.'

After I ended my call with the sweet but still very disgusting Alejo, I didn't wait any longer – I called Matteo right away. Party to tell him about The Scheme, of course, but also partly because I wanted to shamelessly hear him out about his date with Raquel.

I wondered how far he had gotten with her. Would he at least have touched her hand already? Matteo always was kind of slow with these kind of things, after all…

'I slept with her!~' Matteo gleefully announced when I asked him.

I gasped. 'You what?'

'I slept with her!~' Matteo repeated, sounding kind of amazed by his own words as well. 'It was nice! Magical! World-changing! I haven't felt this alive in years!~'

'You slept with a girl you've known for less than two days? On the first fucking date?'

'Yup!~ Ahahahahaha – I just can't stop smiling! I can't! She even made me breakfast! She burnt the toast and I almost boiled her alive with Earl Grey tea! OUCH - gah, I-I'm so happy, I don't even mind hurting my smallest toe just now! And boy, th-the PAIN is INCREDIBLE!'

'Matteo – I… god, I don't even know what to say. It's nothing like you to go to bed with a girl that easily.'

'I know, right?' He giggled like a little naughty boy. 'B-but it was good! It was wanted, and romantic, and she smiles so princely – really, Lulu, you have no idea. She could be a gentleman in disguise, you know? She constantly acts like the male and it's so unbearably adorable – I just want to hug her and place little kisses all over her blushing face!~'

My face fell as I listened to my stupid brother in love, cooing about his stupid new girlfriend. Great, so everybody close to me was having either epic sex or romantic sex, but me. I mean, Seb and I didn't even had sex yesterday since I had been feeling nauseous all day (otherwise he'd have nailed me – believe me, I saw that look, he had totally nailed me). I kind of felt left out now.

'Yeah, anyway, Matteo,' I said, trying to get to the point, 'I wanted to call you because—'

'Hmm? You want to speak with her? Sure!~ Here you go – oh, wait – Lulu, here's Raquel for you, she wants to ask you something.'

'…I was fucking talking to you, you dipshit!'

But it was no use, after a second of muffled cracks and fidgeting in the background, I heard a kind of breathless female voice on the other side of the line.

'H-hello? Um, sister of Matteo, I presume?'

'Yes, Girl That Fucked Said Brother.'

'I'm sorry,' the girl instantly said, 'I will take full responsibility if anything happens. This was all my fault, I lured your innocent brother inside my house and I gave him my hollow but needy body with a eagerness that… that still makes me feel rather uncomfortable about it now. Happy, but uncomfortable. I apologize for that. Sorry for corrupting Matteo.'

…

…

'…right,' I slowly said, 'um, never mind, Raquel, sorry for… being so rude. You… seem to be pretty serious about him.'

'Yes. That's why I wanted to talk to you. Please give me permission to date your brother.'

'Are you for real?' I said, my jaw dropping.

'Um. Yes. I… I-I am very serious, like you said, and I'm planning on asking for your other brother and your fathers' permission as well, so… y-yes.'

I started to blink uncontrollably, I couldn't help it. I suddenly understood what Matteo meant with her being "princely" and that "playing the male role" part now, though – that girl probably was so awkward and careful around him, so afraid she'd hurt him, he pretty much had no other choice but falling in love with her head over heels.

Oh god – that was so cute, I bet their first night together had been so damn fluffy, it was teeth-shattering. And I kind of hated the both of them now. I mean, I wanted to have fluffy sex as well, dammit. When was the next time I'd have fluffy sex again?

'It's alright with me,' I replied, however, 'you can date Matteo as much as you like – just take care of him, okay? And make sure you won't forget about Mia, either.'

'I'll gladly take care of him! And of course I won't forget about Mia!' the girl replied, relieved. 'Matteo suggested I should come with him and spend the weekend with him and Mia, and … I really hope she'll like me, s-so…'

I grinned. 'Yeah yeah, it's okay already, sheesh. Just give the phone back to my brother for a second – I have to tell him something.'

'Okay!'

Background noises and giggles.

'Here I am again!~' Matteo's sunny voice suddenly rang through my ear again. 'I told you – isn't she the best? I think we'll go to the beach this weekend – you know, to get to know each other a bit more, and for Mia to get to know her as well, and for Raquel to get to know herself as well!'

'I have no idea what you're babbling about, Matteo, but I'm very happy for you. Be nice to her, okay? She sounds like a very kind, but also vulnerable person.'

'Yeah, but she promised to go to the psychologist tomorrow, so that's alright!~'

…

'…okay, you know what – whatever.' I groaned. Matteo never made all that much sense anyway. 'I wanted to tell you to please don't think about trying to get to our biological parents' place, but it sounds like you'll be too busy acting like a lovesick dweeb anyway to think about that, so—'

'I actually was thinking about paying them a visit, Luisa.'

'You were?'

'Yeah. Raquel lives next to them.'

My heart started to race and I breathed in and out in well-timed turns. 'Are… are you serious? She lives right next fucking door to them?'

'Yes.'

'How did you figure out?'

'…uh.' He paused. 'Um, I'll tell you more about that later, okay? It's a long and complicated story, and you're a pregnant woman and not supposed to get worked up over it, and I wasn't supposed to tell you this yet, and weren't YOU supposed to tell ME something, first?'

He was so obviously hiding something from me, I almost felt sorry for him. Ultimately, I decided to give him his way and let it slide for now – but just for now. I couldn't stand it when people close to me tried to hide something from me, but knowing Matteo, he probably had his reasons.

'Anyway,' I therefore said, rubbing my head with my free hand, 'I wanted to tell you to please stay out of our real dads place, because Ángel and I have a plan to successfully get close to them.'

And I explained him everything. I was getting rather good at this explaining-jig.

'What? Don't visit them? But I really wanted to visit them, now!' Matteo whined. 'I mean… you… do you have any idea how weird it is to have lunch with your new foxy girlfriend and stare out of a window at the same time, right at a very big, impressive villa where supposedly your parents are living their lives right at this very moment?'

'No.' I pursed my lips. 'I don't.'

'Oh. I… sorry.' Matteo sighed. 'It's just that I really was excited for this, you… you know? Raquel knows them a bit, so she was going to introduce me to them…'

'One wrong move, Matteo, just one wrong word or look, and they'll kick you out and refuse to open their doors for people of our age again.'

'But I want to see them.' Matteo sounded shaky. 'I-I really want to see them, Lulu. I dream about them nowadays – I can't take being this close yet still so very far away from them at the same time much longer.'

'I-I know.' I gulped and stopped pursing my lips. 'But… but you don't want them to chase you off, right? Like our uncles did to our cousin. You… that would be horrible, right…?'

Matteo didn't reply.

I sat down on my bed and thought of something to say.

'L-look, Matteo. In one week, I'll meet up with them. P-Papa Toni gave Ángel permission to make me come over, and I promise you I'll do my best to… to make them remember. Okay? I'll prepare myself really well, and I'll study a lot—'

'Oh, now that's reassuring.'

'It IS!' I felt I was getting genuinely angry. 'Don't give me that sarcasm, you bastard – and don't compare this to my studies! This means just as much to you as it does to me and Alejo! We suffered just as much as you! Don't think you're anything more pathetic than we are, or think you have any more rights to meet up with them as we have! All four of us have, and just because I happen to be the one that's going to meet them, first, won't mean anything – it's not going to be a nice meet-up anyway, i-it's going to be hard and difficult and maybe even tragic, so… so what the fuck are you even complaining about!'

'All four of us?'

'What!'

'You said "all four of us". Who's this fourth perso—'

'It's Seb, dammit, he's off to that stupid Dutch fuck-country and he's going to find his real dad because he has just as many rights as I have and he does and I can't even tell him, or you, or my parents, or my real dads just how much I lo… lov…'

'L-Luisa, I…'

'A-a-and now I have to barf. Fuck you, dammit!'

I threw my phone away from me without even hanging up on my dense, dumb, house-gazing brother and was just in time to grab the giant bowl Seb had put next to the bed last night, before my stomach turned inside out, once again.

o\00/

Of course, Matteo never hung up the phone, that brotherly asshole – and when I had finally finished throwing up and picked up my phone again, he was still there, practically crying on the other side of the line, telling me how sorry he was, and I was mean, and he had no idea I was all by myself right now, and did he have to come over?

But I told him Alejo was going to drop by later anyway, since he's a creepy sweetheart and Matteo's an asshole sweetheart and stuff.

And I told him I was sorry as well.

And then I cried as well, because I really was mean.

…

…

I could blame my hormones for that, but I won't.

Anyway, after that exhausting phone-call, I went back to bed and slept and slept and fucking slept the everyfucking daylights out of my bed and body and mind, until Alejo and the doorbell woke me up.

'Man, I really am the oldest of the three of us, aren't I,' Alejo tssk-ed after I had let him in and he shook his head, getting rid of the bowl next to my bed right away. 'Comforting a crying Teo on the phone and now cleaning up your tiny shitty place as well… I ought to make you guys pay me for cheering you up after your sad little breakdowns.'

I sobbed and rubbed my eyes. 'Y-you can just go fuc—'

'Don't care. Shut up and get dressed already, Luisa – and I will ditch you if you have the sheer guts to put on that atrocious dress you put on that chair. Brown and orange and white? With PINK? What the hell. No way. No effing way. And stop bawling already.'

Alejo huffed, opened the doors of my wardrobe and threw some random clothes next to me. Then he pulled me up from the bed, put the clothes into my arms and then shoved me into the bathroom with an urgent, but careful push.

'…and wash your face! Feeling bad is not the end of the world, you know? Sheesh! You always make your brothers worry about you – I hope you realize that, you little hag!'

My mouth dropped open and I spun around, glaring at Alejo. 'I'm not a fucking hag!'

'That's right, you're are a pregnant fucking hag and you'll be a late pregnant fucking hag if you don't hurry up already!'

'But I'm no—!'

But Alejo swiftly closed the bathroom door and yelled at me behind the closed door to hurry the hell up already, while he'd tidy up my room, because 'good GOD, Luisa, you're not only annoying and everything-BUT-stylish, you're a huge weapon of mass-destruction as well!'

I got dressed and shouted back he was a jackass and he swore at me as well and this went on and on and on, both of us taking turns in swearing profanities at each other while doing the things we had to do, until we finally sat in the car (Seb's car) and drove off.

And you know what? I felt a whole lot better.

Even when I found out I had slept through Seb's call right before he boarded his plane.

o\00/

Luckily, I was able to answer the phone call he had promised to make after he had landed – and I made sure I got that call, I even managed to pick the phone up before the first rings of my damn phone had even formed themselves in actual understandable lyrics.

'Bastard,' I greeted him before he could say one single thing.

'Bitch,' he calmly replied.

'What!' I gasped. 'Don't call me "bitch", that's—!'

'Why didn't you pick up the phone when I called you a few hours ago?' Seb asked, without paying attention to what I had to say. 'I knew you weren't happy with my early flight, but I didn't know you were downright mad. Now Karel laughed at me. You should've seen this asshole's face. Man, how much I wanted to deconstruct it – with my fists.'

I frowned. 'I-I wasn't angry. I was asleep when you called. A-and I also had a fight with Matteo and at one point, Alejo yelled me out of bed and went to the gynecologist with me.'

'…ohh. Well. Sounds like lots of stuff has happened already. But I'm glad you told Matteo and Alejo about that plan your dad made up – just something I think that caused the small clash between the three of you. Also, how did your appointment go? How's the baby?'

I smiled and allowed myself to feel a bit more relaxed as I stretched myself on the couch. 'T-the baby's fine. The gynecologist told me it's growing well, there are no signs of anything that could be wrong with it and… and she said I've been pregnant for a bit more than two months, now.'

'For more than two months already? But you only discovered you were pregnant this month!'

'…I may or may not have not been paying all that much attention to my… uh… monthly party.'

'Okay.' Seb exhaled slowly. 'And you, cutie? Are you fine as well? You don't feel ill, or nauseous, or lonely?'

'I'm also fine. I've been a bit upset today, but according to the gynecologist and the numerous books she has given me, that's perfectly normal for a woman in my condition. She did warn I'll be getting trouble falling asleep: my back will start to ache, my moods will get worse and she said I'm probably going to get a craving for all kinds of very specific foods as well. Like… candybars with hazelnuts. And fried eggs.'

'Well that's not too—'

'Mixed with jelly beans.'

'Never mind.'

'And put together with peanut butter. Oh god. That sounds just amazing. I should try it. I'm going to call my moronic brothers and demand them to go fetch those things for me. Maybe Alejo will protest, but I'm sure I can convince Matteo to ditch that gentlemanly chick of his for two fucking seconds for me. Just give me time.'

'Instead of acting like a huge, bitchy, pregnant time-bomb and bother your poor brothers,' Seb sternly told me, 'why don't you just try and take it easy for now? I promise you I'll be back as soon as possible, so you can give me your unreasonable yet funny commands.'

I made a face. 'B-but you'll be gone for a week, dammit. I'm… I'm lonely, Seb. I-I miss you.'

'I miss you too, cutie, and I wish I could have taken you with me. But we both have our own goals to reach right now, and… oh no, Luu, don't cry – come on, I feel so helpless when you cry and all I can do is stand here and listen to it…'

'But I'm lonely!' I repeated, all… snottery. 'And I really, really want some fried jelly bean-eggs now! And licorice! Fuck – I want some licorice! Really salty licorice! But there's no licorice here… Spain doesn't like licorice…'

'Almost nobody likes licorice, Luu, the only crazy persons that like licorice are the English, some Scandinavian countries and the Dutch. So you're lucky. I'll buy you all the damn licorice I can get my hands on.'

'Y-you will?'

'Everything for you, Luisa. You should know that by now.'

I blushed and chuckled softly. He was so sweet. Even when I was treating everybody around me like shit, there Seb would be, ready to face me, confront me and make me feel better. What a great guy he was. I was so lucky…

God, I wish I had some pickled radishes.

'Okay – you know what?' Seb said when I confessed what I'd like to eat right now as well, 'I don't want to you stay at home and feel hungry and lonely and bitchy all day long all by yourself. So I suggest you pack some bags and go to your fathers' place for the rest of the week. That way, people can look after you, pamper you, get chewed out by you and prepare you for the big day.'

I forgot my cravings for a moment and nodded silently, also forgetting Seb couldn't hear me nod.

In about a week, I'd meet Papa Lovi and Papa Toni. I'd wear that necklace, go to their place and make sure to wiggle my way into their House, for starters. By… I don't really know, by acting like a real aspirant-doctor, I guess. Then I had to take the next step – slowly but surely confronting them with the fact that I actually was their daughter, and they had two sons as well, and… and please don't kick me out of the House, please don't, I-I want to know if you still have the drawings I made, I want to see the dents in the amour Alejo once attacked with a broom, I want to see the place Matteo always hid when he felt sad didn't want you to find out until you found out anyway and…

'Y-yeah…' I eventually muttered with a heavy heart, 'I… I'll go to Ángel's and Stefano's place, I-I guess. That's probably for the best.'

'They'll love to spend some more time with you, cutie.' Seb sighed. 'Look, I-I promise you we'll go do something fun and romantic really soon when… all of this is over, okay? When all of this is behind us, and when we can look back on these days with a smile on our faces. I'll take you to somewhere nice and cozy, like… like…'

'A small village?' I suggested, a smile once again creeping on my face. 'Or… or that amusement park you promised me to take me to one day? Or—'

'The Gay Canal Pride Parade.'

'…the Gay Canal Pride Parade isn't "nice and cozy", Seb.'

'Not? But I thought – oh, right – sorry, I promised Alejo I'd take him there once, not you.'

I groaned. 'You and Alejo have the strangest friendship, you know that?'

'We're both strange men, Luu, so what did you expect?' I could practically see him shrugging. 'Anyway, how was the rest of your day?'

'No no, enough about me already!' I laughed a bit and sat back. 'Just… just tell me how your flight was, and what you're planning to do now. And tell your stupid friend he's an idiot.'

Seb laughed as well, one of the few times I could actually hear him laugh out loud, and once again, I regretted not-being with him, especially now he sounded so happy and excited and cute.

But I understood. It… it had cost me some time, I admit – but I understood now. This was something both he and I had to do separately, and so, that's what we were going to do, like the grown-ups we were.

…

The phone call lasted for one more hour before we finally ended our conversation, though.

o\00/

Because of the many reasons my blunt boyfriend had all pointed out, I went to my fathers' place as soon as I had said good-bye to Seb. I packed some clothes and books, called Stefano to check, just for sure, if it was alright for me to come over for a couple of days (and it was, he said he'd prepare the guest bedroom right away for me and that I should hurry up so I could have dinner with him and Ángel) and then, after locking up, I left.

It was nice weather, not too hot, not too cold, and since I had once again forgotten money for the bus, I simply took Seb's bicycle again. I liked cycling more than sitting in a bus with stale air anyway.

As I cycled to my parents' place, my mind wandered off, as it always did when I had a moment for myself. I thought about next week – next Wednesday, when The Scheme would take place. I felt nervous for that day already, even though nothing had actually happened yet. It was like waiting for a very tenacious exam – an exam that would determine whether you'd go to the next year or get thrown out of school. Pretty extreme – but that's what it felt like.

I knew I had to be prepared, but… I wonder just how prepared I had to be? It wasn't like one of my biological fathers would block me the entrance to the House and say 'Unexpected popquiz about your very own profession - psych! I hope you studied, young lady!' before they'd let me in… at least, that's not what I expected.

On the other hand, I probably had to both look and act like a doctor, and I happened to have the luck to have been raised by a doctor.

…but Ángel was a very cheerful, silly doctor, so would following his example be such a good idea…?

W-well anyways, I'd do my best to do what I had to do, and to know what I had to know – not only about doctors and medicines and shit, but also about our past. Venetia said that I had to trigger them with something big, something special, something that would – whop! – instantly make them realize who I am, what I am up to and what I want from them.

I squeezed into the steer of the bicycle and shivered – partly because of the wind, partly because of… different reasons.

I just hoped everything would go okay.