Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.

A/n1: So, like I promised, I'll give you the names of more peeps who have made me fanart (sorry, no links… OTL):
Italian Skunk, TheAwesomeMe128 and Petit-Ciel-En-Arc.
…yes, there probably are more people out there who have made me fanart and who are now very disappointed in me for not-writing down their (nick)name, b-but I kind of forgot looking up more names in the past week! Sorry!
So, in case you made me fanart in the past couple of months but don't see your name here – tell me, and I'll put your name here as soon as I'm able to. I promise!

A/n2: About this chapter: I was supposed to write about Lovi and Toni surprise-visiting their three kids, correct?
Well I rambled. So instead of three visits, you get one, and not even that one visit will be complete written here.
You want to know why? I can't tell you yet, I'll spoil a pretty sudden twist for you if I do!
Now go read the chapter and tell me I'm pretty. I mean, tell me what you thought about it. If you like, of course.^^

~~ And Three Makes Five ~~

Chapter 85:

A man knows he's growing old because he begins to look like his father.
Gabriel García Márquez
(Colombian novelist, short-storywriter, screenwriter and journalist)

When it was getting time for the kids to eventually, possibly to go home, Antonio and I had a lot of mixed feelings about that.

We had enjoyed their company a lot. It had been so much fun to finally be able to talk, laugh, yell and be together with our fucking handsome and pretty children again, and we could tell from the looks on their faces that they loved to spend time with us as well. It was like… like a win-win situation, you know? No losers, whatsoever, because everything that happened was nice and good and wanted, and I felt so fulfilled and happy to be with them – so very happy, I thought my heart'd start leaking.

…

…not sure it's possible for hearts to become too fill and therefore start leaking, but believe me, it certainly felt like it. It was just too much happiness. Too much bliss. Too much… too much of all that was good, and that's why a very huge part of me wanted them to stay with us. I'd like to feel that feeling for a little while longer… just a little bit, you know? Just… just a bit.

But then there was that other part of me. The more instinctive part of me, that ruled over my body, and that wanted me to go and celebrate the wonderful meeting with our demon spawn with Antonio to our heart's content. And fucking passionately, too. It had been too long already.

I didn't feel sick at all anymore, and I sure as fuck knew that Antonio was aware of that – but I couldn't kick out our kids like that, not for such a stupid reason, so yeah, too bad, Antonio and I just had to wait for our kids to leave.

But I wasn't going to tell them, and neither was he.

Because I didn't want them to.

We didn't want them to.

…

Like I said, very, very mixed feelings, indeed.

So yes, it possibly cost us, like, what, hours before the three of them decided to get up and leave, but when they did leave, I couldn't help but feel sad.

'You shouldn't, you know,' Antonio said, closing the door after the both of us had seen the kids off and the kids' bus had finally disappeared out of sight (Matteo just kept on waving – that stupid moron, ugh, he's so fucking precious and cute).

'You shouldn't feel sad about that, Lovi. They're happy, they like us and they don't feel awkward to be with us. That's nothing to be sad about… those are only things to be thankful for!'

'I-I know.' I swallowed something that tasted like unshed tears. 'But it's weird to suddenly see them leave like that. It's like—'

'It isn't.' Antonio hugged me before I could say it. 'Because this time, we won't have to wait for twenty years to see them again. We can see them whenever we want to see them, and the other way around.'

I sniffled and nodded, hugging him back. 'I-I'm so happy. Fuck. I'm so very happy.'

'I am too, sweetie.' Antonio pushed me back a little, smiled at me and gave me a kiss. 'Just as much as you are, my love… just as much.'

I chuckled when he kept giving me small, teasing kisses like that, blushing since I realized they were all aimed at my mouth and they all reached their goal flawlessly. I blushed some more when the innocence of the kisses changed into wetter, far-from-innocent kisses – kisses that made you want to melt into a puddle and not even mind it – but I answered them all just as eagerly as he was asking them.

I was at my fucking wits' end here – if I didn't get some action now, I was going to hump the first random object in my damn eyesight, and that would mean that that cabinet over there would get it. And such a nice cabinet it was.

'Okay – bedroom, bedroom now,' Antonio at a certain moment hotly hissed, my saliva still fresh on his bruised lips, and without any further ado, or adieu, or what-fucking-ever, he yanked me with him as he raced up the stairs. It was kind of hard to keep up with him – which I not-so-kindly informed him about – and so, he paused halfway, said something sexy in Spanish and fucking flipped me over his shoulder, before continuing his path to the bedroom.

After entering our bedroom, I had thought that Antonio would be pretty much unstoppable and that he'd rip off my clothes and things without even having the decency to close the door or the curtains or, you know, get undressed himself – but I was very wrong about that.

He put me on the bed – and didn't fling me on it or something – and he closed all possible doors and curtains there were in this room. He even asked me what I wanted: light on or off, or just a few lights, or didn't it really matter to me?

'I-I don't care.' I smiled, and frowned, since I always frown, and sat in the middle of the bed, waiting. 'Just… stop being so fucking adorable already and come here. You won me over centuries ago – you don't have to keep on trying so hard.'

'And that's where you're wrong.' Antonio – who had stripped himself from his clothes faster than a drunk Feliciano could – said, before getting on the bed as well. 'I have to keep on trying so hard, to prove to you that you were right to fall for me with everything you are. You, of all people, should know how important that is, sweetie…'

'But I love you.'

I gulped another load of tears and closed my eyes when he opened my shirt and placed soft kisses on my chest.

'So much. Y-you don't have to prove me anything. Not you.'

'God, I love it when I hear your heart talk like that…' He flushed, pulled off my shirt completely now and gently pushed me down, his naked body pressing down on me in the most wonderful ways. 'I-I do love listening to your heart. It's honest and kind and I love it – I love it very much. But please, Lovi. I believe you, but please, allow me to… to keep on proving my worth to you.'

I suppressed a shiver when he got rid of my pants as well and squeezed his stupid, handsome, sexy, dorky face in-between my hands while his own hands disappeared behind me.

'Y-you're so unnecessarily persistent.' I let out a faint moan when he moved against me. 'Y-you've always been. You—'

Antonio interrupted my heavy-breathing that was supposed to pass as a sentence with a warm, deep kiss, one of his hands tracing the curves of my behind now. Then he slowly licked his lips and lovingly told mine some good advice.

'Maybe you should just stop talking now.'

/0o0\

About a hour later, the fumbling, touching, feeling and gasping came to a very amazing ending.

I was pretty amazed myself about that, I didn't know I'd be able to tease and pleasure Lovino for such a long time before finally having good, nice, slow and actual sex with him – at least not in my 'need-sex-now' –mood – but what do you know, I actually managed to pull it off, and by the way Lovi was breathing, sweating and holding me now, I could tell that I hadn't disappointed him.

Which was good, since I still had to tell him something that probably would.

'L-Lovi,' I started, still trying to regain my normal way of breathing, and wanted to lift my head from his chest for a second – but he instantly hugged me harder and pressed me right back against him.

'I love you,' he shyly muttered in my hair, rubbing his head against mine. 'I-I love you very, very much.'

…

GOD, so CUTE! So freakishly ADORABLE!

'I… I love you too!' I stammered, overcome with his criminally sweet behavior, and happily wrapped my arms around him some more as well. I even went as far as to press kisses on his wet, but cooling torso with the rapidly-beating heart right underneath its skin, and oh god, if I had known Lovi was going to be so very gentle and loving before, I'd have had spent another hour on him – for him – only for him – just him.

'I-I don't know what else in life I wish for now,' Lovino said, chuckling as he let me cuddle him. 'I have three beautiful, honest children that still love me, and… and I have you. The most… the most caring and goodhearted husband I could ever wish for. Really, there's nothing that's going to bring me down anymore from now on. I simply don't have the right to feel bad anymore.'

Although I was moved by his – somewhat choked out – words, for which I rewarded him with another soft kiss on his lips, I felt like this was the moment to tell him about what Teo had told me.

So I did.

'WHAT.'

Lovino stared at me unbelievingly, the soft-and tenderness all blasted away from his face, as that typical, grumpy frown took control over it.

'Those damn brats didn't tell us everything about their lives yet?'

'No,' I admitted, now rolling off him since the moment was over, sadly enough. 'Matteo said that Luisa ordered them to keep quiet about… well, certain things, because she was afraid it might be too much for us.'

'Too much for us?' Lovino repeated, sitting up instantly – and wincing. 'We – ouch! – w-we fought HUNDREDS of fucking WARS, we saw THOUSANDS of people PERISH and we witnessed the most EVIL THINGS the human brain can think of, and that bossy little witch still thinks we can't handle some small, stupid, puny secrets?'

I clacked with my tongue. 'Now Lovi, you can't really compare all the sadness we have seen with something as personal as our own kids. I think Luisa was probably right – if they had told us about… God knows what secrets they have, maybe we would have had a fight or something in the end, instead of a nice and cozy evening.'

'You traitor, you're supposed to be on my side!' Lovi huffed.

'Just think about it.' I pecked a kiss on his shoulder. 'They were worried for us. They wanted the best for us. I bet they're just waiting for the right moment to tell us. We shouldn't scold them for that, my love…'

'O-okay then.' Lovino blushed and pushed my face off his shoulder. 'I guess you're right, dammit. But I'm still not happy with it! They shouldn't have important secrets for their parents…'

I nodded. 'And that's why we're going to visit them unexpectedly this week.'

'Oh, that's right – you got their addresses from Matteo!'

'I sure did!~ So in a couple of days, let's go pay them a nice little visit and find out about what they are hiding. After all, we respect their privacy, but we are still allowed to use our authority as their parents to barge into their lives and demand them to tell us whatever the heck we want to know,' I reasoned.

'Oh, I like cheap dad-tricks like that,' Lovino said, impressed. 'Let's do that! And let's skip waiting – we should just hop in the car first thing tomorrow morning and pay those secretive twerps a visit, dammit!'

It was kind of cute how Lovi kept calling them 'brats' and 'twerps', especially when everybody could clearly see that both Alejo and Matteo were almost a head taller than he was – just like me. Luisa, though, was slightly shorter than he was, so I guess that gave him more than enough reason to address to all of them as if they were still little kids.

Also, he was their dad. He could talk about them as if they were still little babies, for all that mattered – that is the right you get after becoming a father, I guess.

But I digress.

So Lovi was now raging about paying our children a visit tomorrow. All nice and well, but I didn't agree with that.

'No, let's not visit them that soon,' I told Lovino, when I realized he actually was serious about visiting our kids ASAP. 'I mean… we could put Teo into serious danger if we did!'

'What do you mean?' Lovino growled.

'Matteo spilled the beans, sweetie.' I got a bit pale. 'And you have seen how scary Luisa can be when she gets angry. She'll wipe the floor with him if she finds out he told us they're still hiding stuff from us. And she's a clever girl, she probably has noticed me and Matteo chatting all sneakily this evening – pop up in front of her door tomorrow, and she'll go to Teo right away and kick in his face!'

Lovino furrowed his brows. 'Damn, you're right – Luisa's almost creepier than Hungary when she gets mad. She'll definitely hunt Matteo down if she finds out.'

'Precisely! And don't forget it's thanks to Teo we know about their secrets in the first place,' I reminded him.

'So what do you suggest, then?' Lovino wanted to know, folding his arms.

'We wait a couple of days, like I said.' I casually pulled him closer to me. 'And then we'll drop by. That should be enough to keep Matteo safe.'

'Fine. We'll wait two days. But then, it's visiting time!'

'Okay, okay.' I smiled, caressing his face until the grumpy folds started to become smooth again.

'They have your ass, by the way.'

'What?' I blinked.

'The kids.' Lovi smirked at me, sneaked an arm around me and managed to pinch my butt. 'They have your ass. I didn't notice at first, but when we were cleaning the table earlier this evening, I saw it. They all have a very well-shaped behind. Spanish God-butts. You should be proud of that.'

'I'm not so sure about that.' I tried to push Lovino over. 'Come on, show me your butt again – I just know their butts are just as nice as yours.'

He grinned and swatted my hands away. 'You saw more than enough of my butt already for today, you damn pervert!'

'Oh no, no no no, I think I should see some more of it…' I grabbed him, pulled him against me, took his ass in my hands and sucked on his neck as soon as he was close enough for me to do so. '…and feel some more of it, too… and maybe even taste a bit of it…'

'Y-you dirty bastard.' Lovino laughed, or was it panting I heard?

Well, it didn't matter anymore – not now we were going to have a steamy second round.

\0o0/

Well, although I really didn't like it – like, really, really didn't like it – I decided to listen to Antonio, for once, and wait for a couple of days before unexpectedly visiting our kids.

So two fucking days it was.

What, dammit? A couple is something that exists out of two things, so a couple of days is two days, and fuck, I can't believe I'm actually explaining this – this should be fucking normal and logical to people all over the world, including dorks like Antonio or, say, Prussia, that stupid albino asshole.

But anyway.

It wasn't like Antonio and I didn't have contact with our kids at all anymore before those two dreadful days had passed – hell, my kids had come back into our lives, no shitting way I was going to take their existence and love for us for granted.

Since we had their phone numbers now, we could actually call them now, and so, we did! Every day, we'd call them: one kid in the morning, one kid in the afternoon, and one kid in the evening. We'd take turns in talking to them, and we asked them really annoying, tiresome questions whenever we did, like every decent parent does.

What are you doing? Are you feeling alright? What are you going to eat tonight? When are you coming to visit your father and me again?

Those kind of things. Parents with grown-up kids apparently ask their offspring these random questions all the time, and every time, their kids would probably roll their eyes and say 'oh dad, why are you calling me every day, geeeez,' while secretly liking it that their parents really did love them so very much.

So that's how Antonio and I kept in contact with our kids, and that's how we tried to stay informed about their well-being.

It was pretty nice to keep the bond we were building up with our children like this, and at the same time, it was a masterfully evil way to fucking guilttrip them with annoying phone calls for not-telling us their secrets, not even when we fucking called them every single day and kept telling them that there was nothing they had to keep a secret for us, nothing at all, we love you very much after all, we trust you now are you suuuuuuuure you're not keeping any valuable information Papa Lovi and Papa Toni should know behind you little evil piece of—

But all three of them said the same things: they were doing okay, they felt alright, they were going to eat pizza/stew/something with fish tonight and yes, they would come and visit us very soon.

Also there were no secrets they kept from us whatsoever.

…

Like fucking HELL there weren't!

But alas, they didn't spill the beans, not even Matteo, even though both Antonio and I could tell he was obviously hiding something from us since he always had to go to another room – as if that would stop us from hearing the crying kid-sounds on the background.

I mean, come on. That moron obviously was the manager of an orphanage, which he for some reason wished to keep secret. Why else could we hear the sounds of kids whenever we called him? I couldn't think of another possible reason. Nope. Not a single one.

…

Anyway, apart from the stressful fact that our kids turned out to be better liars than I had wanted them to be, hearing that they were doing fine was very reassuring to me. It was nice to hear that they were healthy and happy and living their lives to the fullest, and that was good.

But Alejo.

…

There was something going on with Alejo.

The very first time I called him, he sounded rushed, panicked and upset, even though he kept cackling nothing was wrong with him, no, nothing at all, nothing terrible and earth-shaking had happened to him at all, making me and Antonio very worried, of course. But since we didn't want to make him even more agitated, we decided to leave him be, for now.

But when we called the next day, Alejo still sounded bad. He wasn't panicking anymore, but his voice was crabby, dull and annoyed – kind of like Antonio's whenever I wake him up way too early in the morning, only… well, only sadder.

All of my renewed parental senses started to tingle at that: my precious eldest son's having a difficult time! We should rush to his side and fight the demons that were haunting him right this instant!

'No,' Antonio protested, 'sweetie, we'll go meet him tomorrow anyway. Visiting him now will only make him angry, I think. Something has happened to him, and if he really takes after me that much, we should leave him be – just a little bit longer. Let him blow off some steam.'

I frowned at him. 'And what if he takes after me, more?'

'Then let's hope he has a spare room he can murderously demolish in the meantime – ouch! Lovi! Don't pinch me!'

Antonio and I argued about the Alejo-thing for a while, and finally, we made a compromise: we wouldn't swing by his place today, but tomorrow, we'd go visit him first thing in the morning. He'd be the first victim – I mean, lucky child – to tell us what he was hiding for us… and what the hell was going on, and if Antonio and I could do something to make him feel better.

I really didn't want to see him unhappy, after all. No matter how many secrets he hid from me.

…

Damn those daddy-instincts.

0\o0/

She was gone.

She had gone and ditched me, like an old sock, or boring toy, or even a vacuum-cleaner that didn't work like it was supposed to work anymore.

And now she was gone.

And now I both wanted to cry and break some stuff.

…

After I had come home from Papa Lovi and Papa Toni's place, I…

…

I caught her.

Yes, I caught her, right in the act, with, like, two other dudes.

And one of them was Paco's son.

PACO'S FRIGGIN' HOMOSEXUAL SON, WHAT THE HELL.

It's very weird to experience the strangeness of your body, going from super-happy to super-confused, in just a matter of opening the front fucking door of my apartment.

You see…

…

Aimee seemed to have a whole different opinion/view on our relationship.

That's what she told me, after I had pounded some teeth out of those bastards' mouths and kicked them out of my house subsequently: 'But Allie, why are you so angry, we have an open relationship!'

And I was like, 'NO, WE FUCKING HAVEN'T' and then the longest night of my life so far happened.

Apparently, Aimee had been seeing all kinds of guys (and women) casually on the side whenever I was gone, a short while after our still pretty fragile and new relationship had started. She said that she thought that I would be okay with her doing that, since I had an extremely experimental past concerning sex as well – she thought that I, of all people would understand, since I was pretty fucked up in the first place. Maybe I could even join her in her sexual escapades!

That kind of hurt me. I mean… sure, I had always been very… promiscuous, I'd give her that, there were time I had orgies with twenty other maniacs on an almost weekly basis, but… but that was in the past. I wasn't like that anymore – not when I finally fell in love for the first time.

Aimee wasn't like any of those guys and girls I fucked during my wild days – I felt different towards her, I wanted to hold her and stay with her, and protect her and laugh with her, and all those other pussy things Teo usually blabbered about whenever he talked about Kay/Raquel.

But it turned out she was like me – the past me.

I never saw it. Maybe I should have seen it – she was pretty perverted, after all, and she sure liked to have lots and lots and lots and lots of sex, but… I thought that that was just part of her quirky personality. Not that she actually was more interested in having loads of bedpartners than she was interested in living the rest of her life with just one single guy – me.

Aimee started to cry at a certain point that night, telling me that yes, she did care about me, she cared about me very much, but she was scared of commitments, and also, she… she had recently found out that she, like me, was apparently the kid of a nation, and that had caused her so much stress – she didn't know it anymore, she thought that having an open relationship was very effective in times like these, and so, she sexed away.

…so in the end, she pretty much admitted that she herself had decided that we had an open relationship.

And she never felt like she could commit herself to just one single partner.

'I'm going to meet up with my biological parent very soon, Alejo, that strange Italian girl that had contacted with you and your siblings before has found me as well. So I'm going back to France. You can come with me, if you want to.'

Aimee had looked at me with reddened, but determined eyes.

I stared right back at her, not even flinching. 'That depends. Are you willing to be with me – just me? Or are you going to do the horizontal tango with every lucky asshole that crosses paths with you?'

I actually found that pretty badass, I kind of hoped Papa Lovi would be proud of me if I'd tell him about this comment later.

Unfortunately enough, Aimee wasn't fazed by my question.

'Are you telling me to choose? Are you forcing me to choose between who you want me to be and who I want me to be?'

I actually just want you to be with me, I wanted to say – but I didn't, because that probably wouldn't make things better. So instead, I just kept quiet.

That didn't help much either. She said, now that she had finally realized I actually had been telling the truth all those times I had told her I loved her, only her, that she couldn't be with me anymore. She'd just hurt me, and she liked me, so she didn't want to hurt me.

So she picked option B and left. She spent that night at a hotel, or in the arms of yet another lover, or… or whatever.

Yesterday, she came back to pick up her stuff. She had met Venetia earlier, who had given her the address of her father – it was kind of amazing, her dad apparently had realized all by himself he was a father and had begged Venetia to bring his kid back to him – and now, she just wanted to go to France and not come back to Spain anymore.

It was a good thing we only had lived together for a few weeks – she didn't stick around too long, so I could go back to crying and feeling like crap for the remainder of the day as soon as she gave me my key back and closed the door behind her.

0\o0/

Well, that wasn't totally true.

I spent a big portion of yesterday crying and feeling like crap, but after many well-meant yet very meddlesome phone calls of Teo, Lulu, and my fucking father-army (seriously, it was hard to believe it was just coincidence Papa Lovi and Papa Toni called so very shortly after Papa Ángel and Papa Stefano's call), I decided to leave the house (and my phone, too) and go hit a bar or something – I just wanted to relieve some stress.

So I went to the local bar I always went to, and I think I fooled around with a couple of guys, and I got myself absolutely wasted, but miraculously enough, I didn't end up waking up in the house of some shady person – no, I actually woke up in my own apartment.

And nothing too weird had happened at all, since I was alone.

And that was good.

And I smelled cake.

…

…

…but why did I smell cake?

I groaned, but forced myself to get up – yes, I had to get up, had to check out what was going on, even if my head felt like it was going to explode every fucking second now – and fell out of my bed.

Crashing into the wooden floor hurt, of course, but it was a great way of snapping out of my drowsiness. So after cursing the floor and everything that belonged to it, I slowly sat up, rubbed my head and saw pieces of clothes everywhere. Like a bra and a skirt.

Since I didn't have weird hobby's like Matteo, that could only mean one thing.

I actually had spent the night with somebody. And judging from the way the torn-apart clothes were hanging from the furniture and those dark spots in my neck, it had been a pretty passionate night, too.

…

Well okay then… I guess that was how it is. Maybe I needed this, you know? All that tension, all that frustration and anger and sadness of the past couple of days – it was just bound to happen. It had to come out, and since I'm no person for bottling things up too long, it came out yesterday night.

Now.

I should at least have the decency to go and greet the stranger I had screwed senseless last night.

And then I'd kick her out.

Good plan. I liked this plan. Now let's go and do it.

0\o0/

After having put on some clothes, I managed to drag myself to the kitchen. Step by step, bit by bit. Not too quickly – oh god, certainly not too quickly!

My head nagged and bonked, but I tried to ignore it. I needed to know who I had brought home, and I needed to know what was cooking in the kitchen. Quite literally, too.

So you could imagine my immense surprise and shock when I came into the kitchen and discovered a very familiar girl, wearing just an oversized pink shirt, crouching in front of the oven.

No.

Did I really…

She heard me grabbing the back of a chair and looked over her shoulder, her dark eyes lighting up just a little bit upon discovering I had entered the kitchen.

'Oh, you're awake.'

NO.

OF ALL PEOPLE.

OF ALL GODDAMN PEOPLE.

'Venetia.' I swallowed a gulp and got myself on the chair, somehow. 'What… what are you…'

'Baking a cake.' Venetia dryly pointed to the oven in front of her. 'Do you like cake?'

I stared at her, stupefied. 'Why the hell are you baking a cake?'

'Why not?' She shrugged, making a bit of naked shoulder appear. 'I woke up and felt like having cake. But you didn't have any, so I made one. It should be ready in half a hour.'

'No, no no no no,' I rattled, smiling awkwardly. 'I… you don't get it. I don't understand why you're here, and why that you're strange enough to go bake a cake in a house you've never been before. I mean… what's up with that? Shouldn't you be, I don't know, leaving?'

Venetia looked at me like I had told her something very abstract and cryptic. 'I wonder what you're trying to tell me.'

…

I was in too much pain to get angry with her, so I only uttered a strangled sigh and rubbed the sides of my head, trying to calm down.

'Venetia, what… what happened last night?'

'Well,' she started, getting up from the floor to sit at the table I sat at, 'you came to the same bar I happened to be, yesterday night. You didn't see me at first – you just drank booze and let others feel you up for some reason, and that was fine by me, but then you suddenly noticed me, and started to flirt with me. That was also fine by me – but then the letting you get touched by others wasn't that fine at all by me anymore, so I kicked some butts when those jerks got too annoying, and took you back to your place. You invited me in and flat out asked me if I wanted to have sex with you, and that was also very fine by me. And then you tore off my skirt and you put your tongue right into my—'

'OKAY, okay, that's enough, I get it!' I groaned and shook my head at her. 'I can't believe you did that.'

She blinked. 'Did what?'

'You took advantage of the whole situation! You… god, if I had done something like that to you while you had been drunk, people would've considered it rape!'

'But you liked it. And so did I.' Venetia leaned on an elbow.

'Maybe so, but you shouldn't have done that! I… I was in a vulnerable situation. I wasn't thinking straight. My girlfriend had just broken up with me. So I wish you had just brought me home and left, really!'

I hissed after that and looked down. My head was hurting so much, and I can't believe I let something like this happen again. I sounded like a sissy, too, even though I knew I had all rights to complain about Venetia's behavior. She'd probably laugh me in the face later.

'I'm sorry.'

I looked up. 'What?'

'You're right. I'm sorry.' She gave me a troubled look and folded her arms together. 'You were vulnerable. I shouldn't have slept with you. I didn't know you had broken up with your girlfriend that same day, I just thought you were celebrating the single life.'

I raised an eyebrow at her. '…did it look to you like I was celebrating the single life?'

'No.' Venetia now looked down. 'You looked unhappy. I wanted to cheer you up. But it was wrong for me to think that having sex with you would make you feel better. Especially if you don't even remember anything about it.'

I shuffled around on my chair uncomfortably. Thing was that I did start to have some flashbacks of yesterday night, ever since she started talking about me sticking my tongue… somewhere, and the flashbacks were pretty good.

'So I'm sorry,' Venetia in the meantime said. 'I indeed took advantage of you, and I will walk with you to the nearest police station later today.'

'The police station?'

'You're going to report me, right? You should, since I molested you.'

'Uhm…'

'But I hope you at least let me finish my cake. I really am dying to eat cake.'

I snorted a bit as I watched her stern, serious eyes looking at me patiently, like a obedient dog knowing that it had been naughty and therefore waited to be punished by its master.

I did not just compare my and Venetia's relationship with that of a dog and its master.

I did not just think about me and Venetia having a relationship.

'Look, it's… it's okay, okay?' I stammered. 'I'm not going to report you. I mean, you… are pretty sorry about last night, so—'

'But I'm not.'

'…w-what?'

'I'm not sorry about last night.' Venetia hesitated. 'I'm sorry I took my chance when I saw it and I'm sorry for making you feel so bad about the whole thing, but I don't regret last night.'

'Oh,' I said.

'Therefore, I'm foul and should be reported,' Venetia matter-of-factly said.

'You liked it?' I blurted out.

Venetia started fumbling on one of her ears, her cheeks getting the slightest hint of pink.

'I like you, Alejo.'

'Yeah?' I wasn't convinced and gave her a critical look. 'But you like Matteo, too.'

What the hell? What was I even trying to say here? I had just broken up with a girl I think I seriously loved, and I was already thinking about others? God! I even was already throwing the fearful Matteo-card into their face already!

Venetia nodded patiently. 'Oh yes. I like Matteo, he's mostly sensitive and sweet, but he has this dark, edgy side that's interesting as well.'

'Well then.' I huffed. 'Then why didn't you pick him, hmmm? Everybody likes him better, anyway.'

It was mean of me to say that – I cared a lot about Matteo after all, he was the nicest person I knew. But yes, I was jealous of him every now and then. It was a very ugly side of me, but it was the truth. He was just so very much more normal than I was, and I just couldn't stand that when I was – I don't know – emotional or something.

'Let me finish.' Venetia looked at me with furrowed brows. 'You're the exact opposite of Matteo. You're mostly dark and edgy, but you have this sensitive, sweet side that makes me want to rip out my heart, or so I found out yesterday night. That's the difference.'

I cocked my head and waited, not sure what I was waiting for.

'Matteo's interesting. But you pain my heart.'

Venetia frowned and rubbed her arms.

I couldn't say anything, really, I found myself at a loss for words.

And when I finally thought I had something to say to her, I heard the doorbell.

0\o0/

'That was the doorbell,' I stupidly announced, while getting up from my chair. 'I should probably go open the door now.'

'You should,' Venetia nodded.

I looked at her, frowning. 'Could you please go put on your clothes? I mean, I don't know who it could be at this early hour, but if they're going to come in, I rather not have you sitting here wearing just your pink shirt.'

'It's your pink shirt.'

'That really isn't the point right now.' I gave her a tired look. 'Just… just go change yourself, alright? Please.'

'Okay.' Venetia stood up and left the kitchen, swiftly and soundless. I couldn't even hear her feet walking – that's how quiet she was.

But I had other things to worry about.

While still rubbing the temples of my head, that was almost splitting in two because of… of many reasons, I finally went to the front door and opened it, before the people who stood in front of it could ring the bell again and let the awful sound of my doorbell give me a fucking brain-infection.

'Hi, Allie!~' Papa Toni's wayyyyyyyy too happy face greeted me, as soon as I had opened the door.

'We were close-by, so we though, heck, let's go nuts and visit Alejo!' Papa Lovi smiled at me – a smile that told me that I'd regret the day I got dropped into their lives forever if I didn't let them in.

So I made a long face at them, muttered a greeting as well and stepped aside, so that they could come in. I didn't want them over my floor right now – hell, I didn't want anybody around me right now, but with a family like mine, I guess that just was idle hope. And maybe that was good, too. Annoying, but good.

'So, um…' I started, while Papa Lovi and Papa Toni stormed into my apartment and dashed into all the rooms they laid their eyes on, like a bunch of curious tourists, '…why did you decide to swing by this early in the morning again…?'

Papa Lovi's head appeared out of my miniature bathroom, giving me a dark look. 'Oh you know why, Mr. Shitface.'

It was a good thing I was already kind of used to Papa Lovi's interesting choice of words, or else I would've probably felt offended.

'God! Look at you!' He came back towards me and grabbed my face. 'Your mug is fucking green! What have you done last night – did you go on a boozing spree?'

I huffed and pushed his hands away, walking into the direction of my kitchen again. 'So what – I needed that, dammit.'

'What happened, then?' Papa Toni, who already was in the kitchen and had been watching (and wondering about) the oven, turned around. He looked really worried, and even though I was cranky as hell, I couldn't go nag at my parents – I mean, they couldn't help it, either. Plus, I didn't feel like hiding a secret that wasn't even worth a shit anymore.

So I gave in and sighed, grabbing some cups.

'I'll explain, okay? I'll explain you everything. But it's going to be a pretty long story, so just… just sit down. I'll make you some coffee. Or do you want tea?'

'Tea for me,' Papa Lovi said.

'I'll have some coffee,' Papa Toni said.

'I'll take a latte-to-go in the city, so I'm good,' Venetia said.

All three of us instantly bend our necks to look at the female that had appeared in the doorway that leaded to my bedroom.

…now, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed with her appearances. Venetia really was a very beautiful, yet tiny brunette, with long, straight hair and a simply outstanding way of dressing herself. She was very fashionable – very fashionable indeed. She only wore black and white right now, but she wore it like a pro, and even the way she was now putting in her earrings told me that this girl knew she was worth gawking at.

'Oh!' Papa Toni said, smiling friendly yet puzzled at her. 'Um, good-morning! May I ask you who you are?'

'Of course you may ask me that, Mr. Spain,' Venetia said.

'…what the…' Papa Lovi's jaw dropped.

'You know… who we are?' Papa Toni stammered.

She nodded and started buttoning down her long, smooth waistcoat. 'I do. My mother told me all about you two.'

'Your mother?' Papa Toni got more and more confused by the passing second. 'But then who's your mo—'

'Tosca.' Papa Lovi's eyes got the size of some of my plates I had in the cabinet. 'Oh GOD. Now I see it. You're that bulge she used to drag along with her. Sweet jesus, you look just as arrogant and wise-ass as your mother, only… smaller. And without the creepy glasses or white lab-coat.'

Venetia flashed a professional smile at both my dads. 'Well. Please allow me to comment on your and Mr. Spain's well-being. You both look very healthy. That was my comment about your and Mr. Spain's well-being.'

Papa Toni smiled faintly back at her. 'That's Tosca's daughter for you, alright…'

'I should leave,' Venetia said, and wanted to leave the kitchen – but I calmly grabbed her arm and stopped her, pointing to one of the free chairs at the table where my fathers were sitting now.

Venetia didn't really get it, but she didn't protest either when I silently undid her coat's buttons again, and she took place at the table. Although I didn't see happiness radiate off her face or anything, I could still tell she was glad I 'told' her to stay.

'Right.' I took in a deep breath. 'Okay, for starters, dads – this is Venetia. Venetia's the one who told us who we really are. I guess you are wondering about how Luisa, Matteo and I suddenly remembered us again? Well, Venetia's actions have played a big part in that. Also, I had fantastic sex with her last night. Now who wanted the coffee?'

The looks on their faces were priceless, and if I had been in a better mood, I'd be laughing my ass off right now.

But I wasn't.