Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.

A/n1: There are two goals I want to fullfill in life. I'd like it if I could at least reach one of these goals, but I'd be over the fucking moon if I could complete both goals.
So, at the left, we have the goal 'Become a great teacher/pedagogue that kids will really trust and like to go/listen/talk to', and to the right, we have 'Become a writer that can actually make a very decent living out of her writings'.
These are my life's main goals. If I had to choose between one of these goals and, say, become a regular yet very happy housewife with kids and everything – I'd rather pick one of my main goals. Like, I'd rather end up as a single person that's a well-known and respected writer than as a nobody with a huge family.
That kind of scares me. I mean, why on Earth wouldn't I want the life probably everybody's secretly striving for? What's so bad about not reaching my life's goals but at least ending up with a great man and a great family?
I have no idea. But this is how I feel, right now. I'm not sure if this feeling will change over the years, but – well, it's complicated. I don't really dare to talk about this with others, either. But now I kind of did anyway. So here you go. ^^

A/n2: For those wondering what the song was Luisa used as her ringtone: it's 'Toen ik jou zag' (When I saw you) by Antonie Kamerling (or Hero, his artist name or something). It's a love song about a man falling in love instantly with a girl he only saw just once and it's always been considered a very embarrassing song and a genuine guilty pleasure. But ever since the singer's tragic suicide, people are starting to see it more and more as a song that's actually not all that bad.

A/n3: I haven't thanked the anon reviewers in a while now, so please allow me to thank all of you kind anonymous people as well for your continued niceness and support! ^^

A/n4: Also! Kallenart made fanart of Luisa! Which is great! XDDDDDDD Look it up if you have time!
Oh! And so did artdumpage! She drew some more, too. Again! Huzzah! *twirls*

~~ And Three Makes Five ~~

Chapter 89:

A father is a reality-concealing machine, a machine for dishing up lies to kids, and that isn't even the worst of it:
secretly, he believes that he represents reality.
Yukio Mishima
(Japanese author, poet, playwright and film director)

And a hour later, I was sitting in the back of Papa Lovi and Papa Toni's car.

Papa Toni was driving and Papa Lovi was wrestling with a paper map ('Digital navigation is for the weak and lazy, dammit!'), and I sat in the back of the car – like I said – feeling a lot of confusing emotions, all at once.

I was happy that Papa Lovi and Papa Toni were willing to join me on picking up Seb from the airport, but I felt nauseous as well. Not only because of my pregnancy and my insane craving for chocolate covered with melted bananas, but also because I had missed the opportunity to tell my fathers about my last remaining secret.

After Seb's call, I, for some reason, chickened out on telling them about my soon-to-be-big-belly and instead told Papa Lovi and Papa Toni all about me and Seb. A wise decision – both Papa Lovi and Papa Toni seemed to grow to like him more the better things I told them about the two of us – but I just can't figure out why I hadn't used that safe, comfortable moment to inform them about my baby as well.

Wait. Maybe it was because I noticed Papa Toni got these… tics all of a sudden. He had said he accepted my relationship with Seb, but the more he realized Seb and I were probably doing things he and Papa Lovi did as well in the dark, the more agitated he got. He kept on smiling and nodding encouragingly at me, oh, do tell me more about how sweet Seb is to you – but at the same time, his nails were digging into his knees and his legs shake uncomfortably.

It was probably costing him a lot of energy to keep himself from saying something unreasonable.

I thought that was unfair, really. Why did he have so much difficulties with me and Seb dating, while he seemed to be perfectly fine with the idea of Alejo and Matteo having sex with their partners?

'We told you before – it's because you're a girl,' Papa Lovi had told me when Papa Toni had gone to the bathroom (now for an actual bathroom-visit). 'We know what men think, want and what men can do. Men can be pretty damn cruel to women sometimes, which is why we automatically tend to worry more about you – our only daughter. We are, however, aware that women can be hurtful, too – something we were reminded of when we visited Alejo. But still. As a girl, you are weaker. Don't get mad at us for thinking that, we didn't want to see things that black and white, but… well, that's what it is, I'm afraid.'

'You seem to be handling it better,' I then pointed out – and it was true. While Papa Toni was having a hard time succeeding in letting me believe he really was fine with Seb as my boyfriend, Papa Lovi seemed really cool and down-to-earth about it.

He had shrugged. 'I don't dislike the Netherlands, he's a pretty nice guy once you get to know him and give him money. Also, he was a dedicated lover for Liechtenstein – or whatever he exactly was to her – and a good father for Bas. I mean, Seb.'

So Seb's biological dad was a good dad, huh? That means that Seb probably is going to be great as well. Right? Just put two and two together. I had smelled yet another opportunity here and licked my lips, ready to spill the beans.

'But honestly,' Papa Lovi had jokingly continued, laughing nervously, 'I might seem okay with it now, but God knows how I'll respond if you ever happen to actually get pregnant – oh shit, I actually rather not think about that too much – god, I rather not think about it at all! I really don't know what I'd do then, hahahahaha…'

And then I hesitated. I vaguely remembered that one time, when the twins and I still lived with Papa Lovi and Papa Toni, that I had wandered into a spare bedroom and had discovered a space filled with more mass destruction than I had ever seen in my entire life at that point. Papa Toni had later told me that Papa Lovi 'had gotten a bit angry' because of something that had happened somewhere else, and therefore I suddenly doubted that telling even just Papa Lovi about my final secret was such a good idea.

No. I shouldn't tell them yet. Apparently, it would be best if I firstly thought about how and when to tell my fathers about my pregnancy as carefully as possible. Also, they should get used to Seb! After that, we'd see what we could do to break the not-so-very-new-news to them.

It was a good plan. I felt more relaxed when I made up my mind like this and thought to myself I should inform Seb about the whole Pregnancy Plan as soon as we were alone.

Good thing I didn't have to worry about Seb not being able to keep his future parenthood a to himself – he had never been that talkative to start with. I could rest assured.

STDvdW

'My girlfriend's pregnant of me,' I told the random person sitting next to me, when the two of us were sitting in the large hall of the Spanish airport (Barcelona-El Prat), waiting for our loved ones to pick us up.

'Oh?' the man replied, giving me a strange look. But that was okay. I was just that cool. People always gave me stares like they didn't really knew what to do or how to interact with that much coolness. I understood and I was used to it.

'Yes.' I nodded. 'Almost two months or something. She was pretty freaked out by it at first. She probably still is a bit tweaked. But that's okay. I'll be there for her and the baby. I'll take care of them. I'll give her all the weird foods she wants to eat. I'll knit some tiny socksies. I'll do everything for her. Because she makes me happy.'

The man smiled at me, endeared, but he probably didn't like the fact I kept looking at him straight in the eye with the same unfazed expression, since he suddenly stopped smiling and coughed, scooting further away from me.

'She's coming to pick me up now, with her fathers,' I carried on.

'Her fathers?' the man responded. 'Oh, she's adopted, you mean?'

'Yeah, but that's not the point.' I frowned at him.

The man got a bit pale and laughed anxiously. People did that all the time around me as well. Pa Nederland told me he also got people laughing like that all the time, he said that he probably had missed his calling and should've become a stand-up comedian.

Maybe I should become a stand-up comedian.

'Hey, mister?'

'Y-yes?' the man said.

'It's rushing towards you and if you get it into your eye, you'll die. What is it?'

The man stared at me. 'Wh-what are you—'

'A train.'

I pursed my lips together, but still puffed out a short, soft chuckle.

The man looked like he wanted to run away to a restroom really fast, but he didn't, because that would have been rude. Still, it was a shame he didn't dare to laugh at my genius joke in public. Private chucklers are strange like that.

Then, my attention was caught by a very cute-looking gift shop. I loved gift shops. They were always so tender and easy to the eyes.

Fucking expensive shit, though. But you can't have it all.

'Maybe I should buy a gift,' I mused out loud.

'Um, are… are you sure?' the man next to me wanted to know. 'Don't you think you have more than enough already?'

I pushed aside the huge kiddy giftset I got in the Netherlands, leaned away from the twelve floating balloons I got with texts for pregnant women drawn on them (my favorite was 'for the baby of my baby') and neatly put the bag with pregnancy-PJ's under the bench, before looking at the man.

'You think it's too much?'

'Yes.' He shivered. 'Way too much.'

'I see. But you don't know Luisa. She's this beautiful, but grumpy lady that always nags at me to stop drawing attention to us.'

'I can't imagine why she'd say that.'

'Right?' Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all. 'Anyway, I want to pamper her. I want to let her know that I love her. That it's okay.'

'That what is okay?'

'That she can't say she loves me, too.'

'She hasn't told you she loves you yet?' The man blinked. 'Have you two been dating for a long time?'

'Four years.'

'And she never…?'

'No.'

'Oh dear.' The man sighed. 'I wouldn't be so sure about her feelings, then.'

'I am sure about her feelings. Very sure. But I'd like it if she said it.'

I looked down, at the pink and blue wool and knitting-needles, and felt an annoying ache that was mostly mental ache sting somewhere in the pit of my stomach.

'Just once.'

/0o0\

I-I… I had this really disturbing dream once.

I had died, or vanished, or… or moved or something – well, in any case, Lovi and I weren't together anymore, and he was instead dating the Netherlands now. I followed them in that dream, as some sort of ghost, yelling and screaming at the two of them as they walked over the streets of some extremely romantic city, hand in hand, chatting and laughing the entire time.

It was horrible – watching just how happy Lovino was without me, having all that fun with that Dutch bastard. My heart broke apart bit by bit when Lovi let himself get hugged and kissed and held by that creep, and my blood boiled hotter and more aggressively every time the Netherlands did as much as look lovingly at him.

Of course, that all was just a dream, a devilish nightmare of which I awaked as soon as a worried Lovi had shook me awake, stammering that I should snap out of it, dammit, he still loved me, dammit, I shouldn't dream such ridiculous things, dammit, and then he kissed me to prove his point – but only the moment I wrapped my arms around him and pressed him against the mattress below us was the moment I was finally willing to believe everything I had seen that night hadn't been real.

It's very unsettling to see your lover in the arms of someone you don't like. It's definitely one of the worst things that can happen to you, I'm sure of that, and I'm sure every single ordinary and extraordinary living being would whole-heartedly agree with me.

Now, I didn't hate the Netherlands anymore, nor did I like him – but we could be in the same room together without things falling apart. He'd mind his own business, and I'd mind mine. We didn't have to fear, fight or loathe each other anymore. We were too different to do that, anyway: he liked women, I liked men. He liked money, I liked spare time. He liked his country, I liked mine. It was simple as that. And even though my head made up some crazy dreams and thoughts every now and then, as some sort of nasty warning that I should never forget the kind of man I used to be in the past, I knew that something like the Netherlands and my Lovi being together was about as laughable as Feli and Sweden hitting it off.

But.

We both had kids.

Heterosexual kids of the male and female sex.

And they just had to meet. They just had to fall in love – they just had to come together and do God knows-what with each other.

And of course, my precious daughter had to look like a female Lovino, and of course that Dutch kid had to look like the exact if not somewhat younger spitting image of the goddamn Netherlands.

I had seen the picture. His hair might have been somewhat different – but he was like the Netherlands' almost identical younger brother. Green eyes, blonde hair, ridiculously tall and blunt as hell. That's what you get when you mix a stoic man with an emotionless girl.

And you know what?

My genes were going to get mixed with that bastard's.

I shouldn't be thinking about that now already, but when I listened to the way Luisa talked about her boyfriend, it was like I heard Lovi talk. Huffy, grumpy, denying everything except the fact that she loved him dearly.

She was going to have babies with him one day.

My genes were going to be mixed with that bastard's.

My genes were going to be mixed with that bastard's.

I didn't want my genes to get mixed with that bastard's. I wanted Luisa to find a nice Spanish, or Italian, or French, or even Belgian man – but why did it had to be a Dutchman? She could pick every single guy and I'd have been fine with it. Alright, I'd have freaked out even more if she had dated an Englishman – but you get the picture!

Luisa was a product of me and Lovi! That... man was a product of the Netherlands!

Her dating that man was like Lovi or me dating the Netherlands – oh god! No! Just… just no!

I didn't want it!

I didn't want it – I didn't want it at all!

The more I let it sink in that Luisa was dating that Dutchman's kid, the more I started to panic about it. I squeezed the wheel and I breathed weirdly, but Lovi and Luisa luckily didn't notice it – yet.

I glanced to the side, to look at Lovino. He was looking over his shoulder and saying something funny to Luisa and I suddenly felt like the biggest hypocrite on this very planet – no, in the whole solar system.

Lovino always was very honest about his feelings. He had yelled at Allie for dating Francis' daughter and he had hurt Raquel for making Teo fall in love with her, but at least he had… you know… let it out, aired his heart! Yeah, that made him seem like a huge asshole sometimes, sure, but like I said – he was a honest person! He instantly wanted to make Alejo feel better afterwards and he was sincerely sorry about having hurt Raquel as well. He was that kind of person – if he realized he was wrong, he'd made sure to patch up all the wounds he had caused.

I admired that about him.

Because I didn't have that ability.

I lied, hid my real feelings and put a fake smile on my face, keeping up appearances until I suddenly exploded.

When I firstly heard Luisa say she loved that Dutchman's kid, I had actually wanted to scream and do all the hurtful things Lovi had done and said earlier this day, but ten times worse.

Lovi's warning glare and Luisa's honest – there you go again – confession had stopped me from doing those things, and I was surprised and amazed and impressed by my self-restraint, but it was getting weaker now. I felt my troubled mind was starting to get the better of me, and it also didn't help I couldn't honestly talk about it with Lovino – not when Lulu was sitting on the backseat.

'…tonio! Hey, Antonio! Are you okay?' I suddenly heard Lovi ask – and I gasped, looking up from the road with startled yelp.

'W-what?'

Lovino looked at me critically, before he carefully put a hand on my forehead.

'Damn – you're burning, Antonio! You're getting sick – should you even be driving now? I can take it over, you kno—'

'I'm fine!' I said, and smacked his hand away from me – rougher than I wanted to. 'Just… just leave me be. Alright?'

'No,' Lovino frowned, looking slightly hurt and not buying the strained smile I sent him for a second, 'but alright, I'll leave you be. Just calm down a bit, will you? You're driving too fast.'

'Are you sure you are okay, Papa Toni?' Luisa's slightly higher voice asked me as well, and she softly touched my shoulder. 'Something is bothering you, isn't it? You… you can tell me!'

God – so not only Lovi could look through my lies these days, but our daughter could, too?!

Well, I guess that was simply the result of my genes put together with Lovi's, and…

My genes were going to be mixed with that bastard's.

This wasn't going to end well.

I… this wasn't going to end well if this kept going on like this…

'Pull over,' Lovino said.

I flinched and shook my head. 'N-no – no, I told you I can handle it!'

'I know, superman, but we're already here. Look – there's the airport. Right over there. So stop driving in circles here already and park the damn car.'

Lovino dryly pointed to the huge building, standing just a few meters away from us.

O-oh.

/0o0\

After Lovino had told Luisa to get out of the car and wait for us outside, he undid the seatbelt, turned towards me and gave me a long, waiting stare.

'Well?'

'Well what?' I muttered, avoiding his look.

Lovi hissed and grabbed my face, forcing me to look out of the window. I growled loudly and wanted to struggled myself free, but then I saw Luisa, uncomfortably looking around her, just outside the car.

'You see that?' Lovino nagged, panting. 'That's your damn daughter, fully fucking aware of the fact you're panicking because of her choice of boyfriend. She's distraught and worried and afraid you might be angry with her, and all you can think about is your own stupid opinion!'

'I-I'm…!' I tried to say, but Lovino didn't let me. He did, however, steer my face to his, so I could see how pissed-off he was.

'I know it's hard for you, alright? I know it's pretty fucking fucked-up that she ended up falling in love with Seb. But snap out of it already – you're getting way too worked up about this! You're even making yourself sick – why the hell would you do that! Getting sick won't stop her from loving him, you ass!'

'But… but…!' I wheezed – I really wasn't doing anything to keep me from freaking out even more, was I, '…why did it have to be… just why…? I can't do this, I…'

'Listen – no, listen!' Lovino pressed his forehead against mine firmly, his eyes burning. 'You're going to recollect yourself. Okay? You're going to recollect yourself and then, you're going to tell Luisa what you really feel about all this. And then you're going to—'

'I can't do this,' I said again, looking away.

He groaned. 'Antonio…'

'No! I can't do this, Lovino – I can't do this!'

My voice sounded so loud, it even pained my own ears. I stared at Lovino angrily, suppressing the urge to shove him away from me with all my might – it would hurt him, both physically and mentally, and even though he was making me mad, I didn't want Lovi to be upset with me – but he should understand – he should just let me leave!

'A-Antonio.' Lovino gnawed on his lips worriedly – and disappointedly. It looked like he was starting to get that I really wasn't going to do this – that I really couldn't handle meeting that Dutchman's kid right now.

'L-look,' I said, attempting to gulp but failing, 'I-I'll try. Okay? I'll try to accept him. But I can't right now. It's too much. I want to go home.'

Lovino got angry as well now.

'God. Way to disappoint your daughter like that.'

I let my head hang and closed my eyes. I just didn't care anymore – I didn't even care what he nagged, yelled, snarled or snapped at me – I just wanted to go home and recover from this day. Somehow find the strength to process all of this and turn it over, for the better. Then, I'd make it up to both Lovino and Luisa, I promise I would – but now – I felt sick – I wanted to go away from here.

Lovino let go of me and made the distance between us even bigger by scooting further away from me. He didn't say anything yet, but I could tell he was looking at me and being very angry – but what else could he do? There was nothing he could do for me now. And I felt sorry about that, I really did.

But I couldn't help it.

If I couldn't help it, then how could he help it?

It was that simple.

'Okay,' Lovino suddenly sighed – and when I looked at him, I was he was rubbing his eyes and looking tired. 'Okay, Antonio. I don't like this behavior of yours. I thought you had grown up, you know? But I guess I was… well. Whatever, Luisa and I will just… pick up Seb by ourselves, then.'

I had won. I breathed out softly and felt myself relax a bit more, though it didn't feel like a victory – especially not when Lovino was glaring at me like that.

'You… you and Luisa can take the car,' I suggested. 'I'll just take a bus back home.'

'Hmm.' Lovi didn't even want to look at me and tssk'ed, shaking his head. 'Want me to tell Luisa?'

I simply lowered my head.

'Coward.' Lovino's voice was unstable and fragile. 'Fucking coward. God. Fine. Wait here.'

He got out of the car and slammed the door shut with a rage that could have shattered the windows of older, weaker cars – but this car was used to his awful driving style and temperament, so it simply made some squeaky noises and that was it.

I exhaled slowly, glad to be alone in the car again, and wanted to avoid looking in the side mirror – because if I did, I could witness Luisa being informed about… well, me and the state of mind I was currently in.

But that for some reason was too weak – even for me, right now. I mean, I could at the very least watch Lovino being upset and angry with me as he told our daughter about how much of a conservative wimp that couldn't let the past be the past that I was. That would be some sort of punishment for me, and that would be good. Maybe it would help me handle things better next time. Yes.

So I looked into the side mirror. As I had thought, I could watch Luisa and Lovi talking perfectly, no problem. I couldn't hear them, but Lovino was making big gestures and his mouth opened and closed a lot, so I bet he was ranting about me.

Luisa, strangely enough, seemed to rant right back at him – did they have a discussion about me or something? Was Luisa defending me? – and that was… well, I didn't really know what to think about it. But Lovi seemed to be yelling more and more right now, he even got red because he was shouting and yelling so much, and he pointed to something in the distance, and…

…w-wait a minute, what was even going on?

I decided to get out of the car and I was just in time to see Luisa mutter something to Lovino, and Lovino staring right back at her for a second or two, three. Meanwhile, in the same distance Lovi had been pointing into just a few moments ago now, I saw a tall figure approaching us, with balloons and lots of bags.

My stomach stung in protest. That had to be him. I could already feel my blood growing hotter by just watching the person slowly getting closer.

Damn – I needed to get away from here, fast, before I—

'WHAT?'

My thoughts were cut short when Lovino blurted out the loudest and most aggressive 'what' that I had ever heard him yell, and I instantly looked back at Luisa and him.

'P-Papa Lovi,' Luisa stammered, trembling all over and trying to touch him, 'n-no, you… I-I don't mind it! I like being like this, I—'

'Shut up! I'm going to KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH!'

He pushed Luisa to the side and suddenly… started to… run? No, he didn't just run – he sprinted away from Luisa, right into the direction of the approaching figure, that by the way stopped approaching us and stood still.

'SEB! SEB – RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY, YOU IDIOT – R-RUN AWAY!' Luisa screamed, and at first she looked like she was going to charge after Lovino, but I stopped her and gently but firmly grabbed her shoulders.

'Luisa – what's going on?' I wanted to know, utterly confused as I now watched a young man putting down all of his stuff – save for the balloons – before he bolted, since a furious Lovino was coming closer by the second.

'It's S-Seb!' Luisa started to sob and in- and exhaled air shrilly, clutching my shirt when she abruptly turned around. 'Papa Lovi's going to kill him – he's going to kill him, papa, p-please stop him – please, please stop him!'

'Why would… w-why would Lovi do…'

'I-I told him it wasn't just Seb's fault I got knocked up!' Luisa stuttered in between gasps. 'It was mine as well! B-but he didn't want to listen – he's going to – oh god – Papa Toni, please… please!'

The feeling that went through me on that very moment could be compared to the feeling you get after receiving a hard stomp in your stomach, when you're already breathless and gasping for air.

You just don't know what to do with what's going on, because you have lesser than no air.

That was me. I had lesser than no air right now.

'Papa!' Luisa urgently pulled me back from… from wherever I had temporary flown off to and tugged on my shirt. 'Papa – papa, I love him – don't let something bad happen to him, I beg you!'

I felt like I was going to throw up, but still stared at my – now very upset – daughter. Then, I looked down to look at her tummy. Then, I looked to where Lovino was running and finally, I looked over to that… guy, with the balloons.

I breathed in through my nose, as deeply as I could, and pulled Luisa's hands off my shirt.

Right after that, I made the biggest dash I had ever done in my entire life.

/0o0\

When I was running after Lovino, there was so much going on in my brain that it can be considered a miracle it didn't break down or something halfway.

But since I needed all of my energy to catch Lovino – who could be insanely fast if he wanted to be – I didn't pay any attention to my screaming and kicking and scratching mind and kept on reminding myself that I needed to stop Lovi, first – whatever that could happen, wasn't important – just stop Lovi, first, before he'd go and break our girl's heart as badly as I had done.

That gave me more power. The will to at least stop Lovi from becoming a terrible dad gave me wings, even, and at a certain point, I was even able to shout things at Lovino.

'Lovi! Lovi – stop! Lovino!'

But Lovino didn't answer and he didn't slow down – he kept his eyes focused on that young guy, running for his life with those stupid balloons, why, and when we passed a shopping district or something, it was actually a pretty funny sight, I had to say, when looking to our reflections on the window.

First there was the Dutch kid, sprinting like crazy but not yelling or begging for mercy or anything, then you had Lovino, that didn't made a sound either but looked like he was going to murder somebody, and then you had me, panting and yelling loudly as I followed the other two. It was a very strange sight and I'm amazed people didn't stop with their activities to watch us.

I have no clue for how long we ran around like this, I only knew we at least never left the airport-field-area-thingie and that it felt like we were running in circles. I could imagine that kid not wanting to leave Luisa behind, not even with two men chasing him, and that was good. I wanted to break his nose, of course, but still. That little fact was good.

And suddenly, the Dutchman made a crucial mistake when he ran into a dead-end zone, somewhere on the parking lot. He had nowhere to run to now, and he knew, slowly turning around to face Lovino, who now was losing speed as well – he looked more like some kind of tiger, approaching his pray and enjoying to see it realize there was no way out.

Thankfully enough, now that Lovi had lost some of his speed, I actually succeeded into grabbing him from behind, trying to stop him from getting closer to the other young man.

'L-Lovi – no – Lovi, stop – Luisa, she – so – Can't breath – I…'

Lovino just grunted and tried to pull himself free, his eyes still concentrating themselves to the blonde kid, who was now slowly sinking down on the gray, dirty ground, breathing in and out rapidly, his back against the wall.

'I'm going to kill him,' Lovi said, not even breathless, and jerked with his arms. 'He knocked Luisa up. That asshole knocked my daughter up and now he's going to get it.'

'L-Lovino, no, no!' I stammered. 'I know how you feel, really, I do, but… but don't, okay? Don't.'

I didn't really sound very convincing. That was probably because I didn't really mean it. A very nasty thought crossed my mind right then, a nasty, black and awful thought.

I could just release Lovi and watch him beat the tar out of that tall little bastard. I didn't have to do anything at all, Luisa was nowhere in sight right now… it was like hitting two birds with one stone.

But two things stopped me from actually letting go of Lovino:

A – regardless of the situation, I still didn't want Lovi to hurt Luisa. It would hurt him and it would hurt her and I didn't want either one of them to be hurt.

And B – I happened to accidentally take a good luck at the Netherlands' kid.

Oh, it was his, alright: I'd recognize those empty eyes everywhere. It momentarily made me want to slap him – but then a memory from the past swiftly flashed through my already very badly-pounding brain.

Bas walking hand in hand with his parents.

Bas staring at me and Lovino as we sat in the bus.

Bas enjoying the ridiculously expensive drink his father bought him when we were visiting shops in Madrid, Bas listening to Lovi's story on our way to Turkey, Bas playing the same games as my sons on the beach.

Bas being stolen from his parents as well.

…

It struck me right there, right then.

'He's just a child!' I said, as clearly as I could as I still did my best to restrain Lovino. 'Lovino – he's – he's just a kid! Just like our kids! Just a kid!'

'Do I look like I fucking care, you bastard?' Lovino answered me, still struggling. 'Let go of me – forgot who that asshole is? He's that boyfriend – he made Luisa… he made her pregnant, that piece of shit! Let me tear his fucking arms off!'

I took a better hold of him. 'I-I know! I know, Lovino, and I'm just as angry as you are! Just as angry! But… but Luisa – Luisa's loves him, Lovino, she loves him, she really loves him – don't hurt the kid that she loves, don't try to make the same mistake I'm keeping myself from doing!'

'She loves me?' the kid said, catching both mine and Lovino's attention.

He slowly got up from the ground, his legs a bit unsteady as he sought support against the wall behind him, staring at both me and Lovino big huge, hopeful eyes.

I didn't answer him and neither did Lovino – but thankfully, the latter did calm down a bit now.

'How do you know?' the kid said, his voice a lot more emotional than his face or even entire body. 'She's never said such things. Not to me, not to other loved ones. How could you possibly know she loves me?'

'She…' I breathed in, '…she told us, alright?'

'She told you?'

'She told us.' I nodded to emphasize my statement. 'She loves you.'

'Hold my balloons.'

'…what?'

I gaped at the Dutch kid like he was asking me something outrageous, but still took over the balloons he was holding out to me – and then watched him run away again.

I turned both Lovi and myself around to see that the kid was sprinting so very fast right now that I started to actually feel a bit worried about him. He had just ran around this area for at least ten minutes – how on Earth had he managed to recharge himself so abruptly?

Lovi's sudden annoyed snorting sounds made me realize I was still holding him in a pretty awkward and uncomfortable position, and I loosened my hold on him – but just a little bit.

'So…' I started, exhaling tiredly, '…can I let go of you now, or are you still planning to charge after that Dutchman's kid again? Even after everything I told you and after witnessing for yourself that the kid's a good kid, even if he's a Dutch kid?'

'Maybe I should ask you a similar question.'

'What?'

I looked at Lovino's face and saw he was smirking.

'Can I let go of you now?'

My jaw dropped. '…w-what—'

'Or are you still planning to sulk about your past and blame everything on Seb, before beating him up? Even after having stopped your "snapped" husband from kicking the living daylights out of that same kid that knocked our daughter up?'

I…

…

…

I was speechless.

'You little sneak,' I growled, letting go of him, 'you acted? You only pretended to go nuts?'

'Let's go back, Antonio.' Lovino took one of my hands and casually pulled me after him, as we both walked after the Dutch kid – now just a large, blonde-haired dot in the distance, quickly approaching a brown-haired dot, furtherahead in the distance.

\0o0/

'I was mad, too, you know,' I started to explain to Antonio while walking. 'I told Luisa that you couldn't handle meeting Seb, and she suddenly blurted out she was pregnant with him – god, I got furious! I got really mad! But Luisa nagged that I should help her out instead of getting pissed about facts I couldn't change anyway and she told me that I should be the wise parent here and then she begged me to please help her getting you to accept both Seb and their… baby.'

I shuddered after saying 'baby'. It felt weird and bizarre, no matter how true it was.

'So that was why you were arguing,' Antonio mumbled, probably still feeling a bit sore after discovering I had been tricking him into protecting Seb. 'You weren't ranting about me – you ranted about Luisa and her pregnancy.'

'Exactly,' I nodded. 'Mind you, I wasn't happy with it. Hell, I wanted to fucking cry. But I agreed with Luisa – I should help her out to get you to like Seb, and I knew that chances of that happening would get microscopically small if we didn't think of something. So I thought of something. I whispered it in Luisa's ear right after you got out of the car, on that exact same moment, Seb came out of the building, and, well, you know the rest.'

'Was he involved in it as well?' Antonio asked.

I looked over my shoulder to him and grinned. 'Nope. He was scared for real, he ran for his life for real. And god, it felt fucking nice to at least scare the shit out of him. So very nice. I feel so much better now.'

'I don't know what to feel now, really.'

I snorted and pulled him closer, so that he now walked next to me instead of behind me. I could tell he was still very flabbergasted by all of this, but he wasn't angry or hysterical or anything: he still held on to the balloons, after all, and he still held my hand.

'We were right, you know?' I told him. 'Luisa's really the smartest kid we have.'

Antonio nodded. 'Yeah, getting me to try and save that Dutch kid like that, when I was on the verge of freaking out…'

'And successfully forcing me to like Seb as well, using me to get you to save him from me…' I chuckled.

Antonio's eyes grew huge. 'Oh, you're right! She used the both of us to get each other to like him! Cognitive dissonance! This screams cognitive dissonance! That scheming little brat!'

'Well, she did study psychology once.' I shrugged. 'Plus, it worked, didn't it? You don't feel like snapping anymore and I don't feel like yelling anymore. We might as well just try and accept that kid. Nothing we can do about Luisa's feelings for Seb, anyway.'

'Well, okay then.' Antonio sighed. 'Okay, Lovino. Thank you.'

'What are you thanking me for?'

'For pushing me to the limit.'

Antonio – finally – beamed a smile at me and managed to wiggle his fingers in between mine. He did that slowly and carefully, but I felt everything, and it always felt like something that was both a very sweet gesture as it felt kind of perverted.

I cleared my throat and blushed, giving his hand a shy squeeze. 'Y-you like it if I push you to the limit?'

'No, I hate it. I absolutely hate it. It's a terrible feeling. But it… it helps me grow. You know? As a person.'

'So you're not mad at me for playing along with Luisa's scheme?'

'Of course not, sweetie.'

'O-okay.' I breathed out softly in relief and repressed a timid chuckle when he pressed a quick kiss on my cheek.

Thank god.

o\00/

God, just fucking look at me right now, pacing around the damn car like a restless dweeb with… with fucking ants down her pants or something.

I just couldn't stand still, not a single second. I just – just had to walk around in circles around the car.

It had been, well, five, ten minutes now, since I sent Papa Toni racing after Papa Lovi who was racing after Seb who was… just… racing in general, because he suddenly saw some maniac dashing towards him with the speed of a damn person of fire. I mean, every sane human being would flee, then.

Not to pat myself on the back too much or anything, but it seemed like it had worked. My plan to get both Papa Lovi and Papa Toni to like Seb and accept our yet-to-be-born child. Papa Lovi did yell at me when I suddenly told him, and Papa Toni still looked a bit scary when I tugged him on his shirt and pleaded him to please go save the guy that knocked me up, but they both did what I asked of them, and so I guess the books I read about dads and parenthood are true: the biggest portion of all dads will do anything to make their daughters happy, no matter what, just because they want to see them happy.

Even if it won't make the father happy.

That was just beautiful and hooray for using this information to manipulate them into liking Seb.

Hooray! Hooray!

…

I hope everything did go well in the end, though. Because…

…w-what if Papa Lovi really was angry? What if Papa Toni wasn't able to catch him in time? What if Papa Toni snapped anyway? What if the both of them actually beat Seb up anyway and return to me with his bloody corpse saying WELL WE DID WHAT WE HAD TO DO AND—

'…isa…'

Huh?

I stopped pacing and looked up, to see Seb, Seb, alive and well, running towards me and the car as quickly as he could.

'…uisa!'

'Yes?' I said – and that made no sense at all, what the fuck, nobody could fucking hear me say 'yes?' when I was all by my fucking self.

'Luisa!'

Seb was pretty close now, and my heart finally got the message – he was here, he was fine, he came running towards me even, and he never ran! Good god! Something must have sent him running towards me – maybe my dads still hit or kicked him a little? I don't know, you could never be too sure.

In any case, I didn't really know what he expected me to do now. Should I run to him as well, tears streaming over my face and happiness filling up every single nook and cranny of my relieved heart and yadayadayada romantic crap and stuff?

Well, lucky for me, I didn't have to think about it too much, because he suddenly was right in front of me.

Yes. Yes, that was pretty surprising for me as well.

I silently watched him as he breathed in and out heavily, his chest rising and lowering with every breath he took or exhaled, his eyes big and a bit reddish, as if his speed of walking had irritated them. They looked at me with a hopefulness that pulled on the strings of my heart, and although I really wanted him to hold me already, I decided to wait for… for whatever he wanted to tell me.

'Lu… Luisa…' he panted, never looking away from me, '…i-is it true? It it really… did… did your fathers tell me the… um…'

'What?' I asked, holding myself back to not fucking grab and press him against me with all of my might.

'Did you say it?' Seb gulped in between puffs and wheezes. 'They said… you said you love me… did you?'

I felt my face slowly but surely getting hot. 'U-um—'

'Please tell me.' Seb actually looked like he was about to cry. 'I know you do, cutie, I know you love me, but tell me, please tell me – I want to hear it. More than anything.'

I blushed even harder, but ignored it and got closer to Seb, shyly wrapping my arms around his long, sweaty torso and softly rubbing my face against his still-racing chest as my hands took hold of his clothes, his back, his skin, his everything.

'I-I love you.' I looked up at him, my chin resting against him. 'With every fiber of my being, I love you, Sebastiaan.'

'I love you too,' Seb automatically answered.

His face stayed in that same emotionless-but-ruffled-position for a moment, before he suddenly threw his arms around me as well, hugged me tightly and dropped down on his knees. I yelped in surprise and wanted to ask him what he was doing, but then I felt the way he shook and ran his shaky hand through my hair, and I did nothing at all – nothing, but keeping a tight grip on him and stroking his back.

'Thanks for your patience.' I smiled when I felt he held on to me firmer. 'Thanks… for everything you are, darling.'

Meanwhile, I could see Papa Lovi and Papa Toni approaching us as well – Papa Lovi carrying some of the bags and things Seb had left behind, while Papa Toni looked after the balloons and carried the other bags.

They were both smiling.