Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.

A/n1: I'm thinking about entering a writing-contest that's being held in my country. I need to write a book/story that's got 30,000 words (I'm already sweating) and that's especially for the Young Adult-genre. You know, think Hunger Games, I'll be There, The Fault in Our Stars, The Selection, Divergent, those kind of books.
I'd like to try it out and send in my work as well, but the due date is April 30. I don't have all that much time left. So help me out here!
Now, there are three possibilities for me to send in:
1: a book I already wrote once (but that nobody wants to publish because publishing things in my country is extremely difficult if you're not famous/lucky enough, because only 1 in a fucking 5,000 peeps here gets their book published). It's pretty cool, but it's also 40,000 words long, and therefore, too long for the contest. I could give it a shot and send it in anyway, but is that a smart thing to do?
2: a story that's about… 3,000 words long so far. It's very contemporary (the genre of the story has to be contemporary) and probably the best participant, since I'm actually closely following the rules with this one,, but it's missing something for some reason. I could try and make it better, but would there be enough time for me to do that?
And 3: a story in the style of the Hunger Games. I really like it so far, and it's taking place in the present, but… it's pretty different from the other stories. It's 5,000 words right now.
So… should I… give it a try and send one of the aforementioned stories in, or should I start over with something new, or shouldn't I even bother and go cry in a corner?
Please tell me what you think.

A/n2: Also, please tell me the exact meaning of 'contemporary'. My wordbooks say all kinds of things, but I want to hear it from somebody who's first language is English – just to be sure!

A/n3: And yet another shout-out, because I'm annoying like that and because you all secretly like that about me. Yes you do. Don't deny it!
This time, it's a drawing from both Luisa and Seb (I guess they're pretty popular indeed) by the wonderful Petit-Arc-en-Ciel (also findable by looking up tetra-paec). Yay!

A/4: By the way, in this chapter, nothing much… happens. I had planned a lot, but I ended up talking too much about random important things again – I'm sorry. I just… it happened. Soooo I hope you like fluffy and cutesy 'sort-of-morning-preparations-for-the-wedding-anniversary-party' –chapters!~

~~ And Three Makes Five ~~

Chapter 92:

The older I get the more that I see,
How much he loved my mother and my brother and me,
And he did the best that he could,
And I only hope when I have my own family,
That every day I see a bit more of my father in me.
Keith Urban
(Song for Dad)

Before I knew it, it was Saturday.

The Saturday. The Party Day. Satur-Party-Day. I could go on, but I won't.

Although I had been pretty excited for the party to just start and take place already, it also was nice we didn't have to hurry or anything. Lovi and I had decided the party would start around 4 in the afternoon, forcing every single guest that would come along to avoid eating until 4, because otherwise, the huge feast we had both prepared and ordered would be a waste of time and money, and our guests wouldn't like that.

Well, actually, I think the guests didn't give a tiny rat's butt about the costs, but hey, we did!

So yeah, Lovino and I didn't have to do much anymore. Raquel had taken care of most of that and she had assured me and Lovino yesterday evening that we could sleep in and take our sweet time preparing ourselves for the party this afternoon.

'But I do need the two of you to be at the basilica at 3 PM already, because I… w-well, I need to get dressed myself, and Alejo demanded me, Luisa, Seb and Matteo to come along with him so that he can put us in, as he said it, "nice and awesome and actually legally confirmed cool– clothes", so… so while I get myself dressed, you two need to be there to wait for the early guests,' Raquel told us right before we left the other day, and so, Lovi and I promised we would be there on time, oh yes, no worries, no worries!~

But oh, right now, it was still so very early in the morning… so early… Lovi and I didn't need to get out of bed already, we could just chill out in bed some more, maybe… maybe fumble a bit on each other, hmmm, yes, just a little bit… or just hug and cuddle – I liked hugs and cuddles just as much…

So without opening my eyes or moving the sheets too much, I put one of my arms on the mattress and tapped and moved it around to look for Lovino's peacefully snoring body.

But I didn't find him.

…

I could hear him, though – his voice came from the bathroom.

Did Lovi always talk to himself when he was visiting the toilet? I never noticed, but I guess it was… possible?

Too curious to just go back to sleep, I sighed and rolled on my back. Then, after having stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, I drowsily sat up and rubbed my eyes. Fortunately, the moment I stopped rubbing them, Lovino happened to come out of the bathroom. He wore a gray shirt that was a bit too big for him and he looked dazed and sleepy at the same time. Also, he held his phone in one of his hands.

'Eww,' I greeted him, making him look at me in annoyance. 'You didn't flush. That's disgusting. Go back and flush!'

'I didn't fucking piss or take a dump, you moron,' Lovino snapped as he walked/wobbled back to the bed, half-yawning, half… musing about something, apparently. 'I went to the bathroom because somebody called me and I didn't want to wake you up.'

'Oh.' I blinked lazily. 'That... actually was very sweet of you. Sorry for my… you know. Um. So who was it?'

'Seb.'

'Oh, Seb.' I said. 'What did he want?'

'Luisa's hand in marriage.'

'Ah.' I scratched my head and yawned as well. 'And… did he get it?'

Lovino stared at my calm reaction and furrowed his brows. 'You're way too okay with that. Way too oka—wait a sec, he asked you first, didn't he?'

'Yes. A couple of days ago. Since he thinks I'm the dad that actually stood up for him, and since I'm the dad that's on his side.'

'Don't forget you're also the dad that firstly didn't even want to look at him just because he's the Netherlands' kid.'

I laughed weakly. 'Ah. Well. What can I say? I got better.'

'You definitely did.' Lovino smiled at me and that made me feel both very proud of myself and very happy.

'So?~' I beckoned him to take a seat next to me, patting the empty spot invitingly. 'What did you say?'

Lovino shrugged and got back into bed, indeed sitting down next to me again. But maybe that was putting it too lightly: he didn't only sat down next to me again, he even sneaked his arms around me and snuggled his face against me.

'Maybe I'm still too sleepy for this…' he muttered, '…maybe that call actually never happened, or maybe this is that Dutchman's sly way of getting me to hand over Luisa to him like that without any yelling while I'm still in my snooze-mode, but… I said it was okay.'

'You think you might get angry for him for wanting to marry Luisa later, then?' I asked, running my hand through his brown hair. 'I don't think it's reasonable to get mad at him for wanting to take care of our daughter and unborn grandchild for the rest of his life…'

'Dunno…' Lovi held on to me tighter and closed his eyes. 'I'll figure it out later, okay… I now just… just want to sleep some more…'

He was right – getting some more rest now was way more important than thinking too long about certain things. So I nodded and moved around a bit to get more comfortable myself as well, before closing my eyes, too.

'Then let's, my love.'

STDvdW

I looked at the phone for a long time after Mr. Romano had hung up on me.

He had said yes. Mr. Romano had officially given me his fatherly permission. So that meant I now was free to ask Luisa to please marry me.

Over the past days, I had asked Tonie (he had to accept one of my incredibly well-made-up nicknames one day). He said yes, of course, because he's cool. Then I had asked Ángel. He also said yes, but his yes sounded weird – maybe because I called him up in the middle of the night. Then I asked Ángel to hand the phone over to Stefano. His yes was weird as well, but I guess he too had been sleeping, since it still was the middle of the night. All who was left to ask was Mr. Romano. And I happened to call him at 7 in the morning just now.

Yes. Calling future fathers-in-law at very strange times could be considered my battle strategy to get all Luisa's dads to agree with letting me marry her: ambush them while they're still groggy and be unexpectedly victorious.

But that actually wasn't my battle strategy at all. No. I simply couldn't take the uncertainty any longer when I decided to call Ángel and Stefano yesterday night, just as I couldn't stand waiting for a later time when I woke up this morning and had this mean little voice hissing 'you still have to call the serial-dad, you still have to call the serial-dad, you still have to call the serial-dad', and so, after having worried about that for way too long, I called said serial-dad.

Serial-dad yawned yes, so I had gone and done it – I was allowed to marry Luu now, and that meant there was now just one obstacle left to overcome.

Luu herself.

She's a great woman. Smart, sassy and beautiful. Sexy as a funky fox, Grumpy as a middle-aged janitor. Foul-mouthed like a fierce sailor.

I loved her so much. I wish I was able to decently express it, but I wasn't. That kind of sucked. But I knew that Luisa knew. Yeah. She knew. She was awesome like that. I was so lucky to have her.

But would she say yes?

I wasn't sure.

Luisa loved me, yeah, but she had difficulties with changing things. She really liked our relationship the way it was right now. Would she be willing to make it even more intimate than it actually already was?

Like I said, I wasn't sure.

So I had to ask her very beautifully.

Too bad I had the imagination of a rock.

That also kind of sucked.

Tonie had advised me to pop her the question during the wedding anniversary party, but I don't know if that was such a good idea. Lots of people and stuff. She'd get embarrassed. Or she'd feel like she had to say yes, since she didn't want to make me look like a fool. She'd probably freak the hell out later, or right at that moment, and then reject me and cry for the rest of the day because she was so confused and all.

I knew her, after all. She was going to respond like that if I wasn't careful enough.

So I needed to think of something. Something cool and original and careful and sweet.

Maybe I should call an expert on all things cool, original and sweet, but I didn't want to wake Mia up yet.

Oh well. I guess I could give her dad a call later.

I stretched myself, put my phone away and glanced at the clock, hanging on the wall. It only was 7:30 AM now, so I probably could go back to sleep for a while. I had called all the dads now and didn't have to fear rejection anymore from any of them, so I was most likely going to sleep very nicely now. That was great. Especially since I slept horrible last night.

Yeah. I should definitely go sleep now.

But Luu. And me wanting to propose to her in a good way. And me lacking the right amount of imagination to pop the question efficiently.

Perhaps it would be better to brainstorm about asking Luu to marry her instead of catching some zzz's. Yes. Yes, probably.

It was decided, then.

I took a random notebook (Luisa had tons of notebooks lying around the place, she has this addiction to cute notebooks, always buying them but never using them because she's too scared she might write dumb shit in them and 'wouldn't that be a waste of a cute notebook?' and therefore they were all very empty but nevertheless extremely cute as well). The notebook was pink and had a simplistically drawn bee and flower on them and it had just been chosen as The Grand Cahier of Time.

I also took some pens, green, red, blue and black ones, instantly dubbed as The Conveniently-Colored Wands of Wisdom, and I then crawled back into bed. Luisa, who had her back turned my way, was still sleeping soundly, her shirt riding up her back. I got this urge to put my cold hands on her back and watch her shriek and yell, but that would be mean. Also, my hands actually weren't cold.

So I slid underneath the sheets – partly, I couldn't brainstorm if I simply laid on my back – and grabbed The Grand Cahier of Time and a Conveniently-Colored Wand of Wisdom.

And thus I began.

STDvdW

Turns out giving your notebook and pens really cool names doesn't help your inspiration bursting out.

At least not when you're thinking hard about a decent way to ask your girlfriend to marry you.

Or when you're me.

I had been scribbling all kinds of ideas in the cute Grand Cahier for hours now – for hours, I wish I was kidding but sadly I wasn't – and all I got so far was a bunch of words, written in red, green, blue and black, that all just didn't make much sense to me, and even less when I was finished crossing big, rejecting lines through them.

I sucked. Which sucked. It sure sucked to suck.

'…Seb?'

I stopped thinking of ways to blend the word "suck" into more sentences and looked to the side. Luisa had woken up now and she sleepily frowned her adorable face, with strands of hair sticking into her mouth and pillow-wrinkles on her forehead and cheeks, and she was so pretty.

'Hi cutie.' I smiled at her and even waved.

She sheepishly waved back, before getting red and growling at me I shouldn't fucking wave at her like a dork when she was just lying next to me, dammit, and then she pulled herself up, so that she was sitting upright as well. She was also very quick to pull her hair out of her mouth and rub her face.

'What are you doing?' she wanted to know, as nonchalantly as she could, or should say couldn't, and tried to peek at the sacred Grand Cahier of Time.

'No,' I said – and then I flung the notebook to the other side of the room. It went there with a nice little curve and Luisa followed it with her eyes, blinking confusedly.

'Well that was a bit over the top.'

'It was,' I admitted.

'You do realize I'm still going to check it out, right?'

'No,' I said again.

'But I will.' Luisa grinned at me and made movements that suggested she was going to run for it if I wasn't quick enough.

Luckily, Luisa sucked just as much at running as I did at being creative, so before she could even try and make a dash, I already had her pinned to the mattress – but carefully – sitting on top of her – but carefully – and pressing her down.

But carefully.

'The fucking hell!' Luisa snarled, trying to struggle herself out of my grip. 'Oh man, you're so fucking going to regret this – you bet your blonde butt-head I won't rest until I've read that stupid notebook of yours now!'

'Grand Cahier of Time,' I corrected her. 'Also, it's actually yours.'

'All the more reason for me to read it! Now get off me!'

'Why?' I lowered myself until I practically laid on her, lessening the grip on her wrists and watching her cheeks and ears and even nose getting all these different shades of red and pink. It was pretty cute.

'O-oh no.' Luisa huffed. 'I-I'm not going to fall for that trick. Y-y-you and your stupid seductive shit won't keep me from reading whatever the fuck you wrote in that thing.'

I didn't reply to that, I just planted kisses on her forehead, cheeks and lips, and pretty much all the naked spots on her flushed face. Luisa mewled in protest, if you could really call it protest, and she started trembling and shivering madly when I wrapped my arms around her middle and gave her a soft squeeze.

'S-stop f-fucking turning me on w-with you damn c-cute shit and stuff,' I heard her gasp, her hands grasping my shoulders but not really pushing me away. 'I-I don't want it, n-not now I'm… I-I'm starting to get fat, d-dammit…'

'You're not getting fat,' I said, 'the baby's just growing bigger. Not you.'

'Bullshit. I'll get fatter and you know it.' Luisa sounded a bit gloomy and sighed. 'I-I don't want to get fat. I'm not saying I am fat, since that's… well, I still have a healthy weight and shit, but… I just don't look forward to that part of my pregnancy.'

'The gaining weight part.' I nodded understandingly. 'I get it. But I bet you'll be an adorable pregnant lady.'

'That sounds weird.' Luisa still giggled a bit, though. 'You… you really think so?'

'Of course. I mean, have you seen your belly yet? It's really cutesy.'

Instead of waiting for her to respond to that, I pulled up her shirt until her indeed slightly grown belly appeared from underneath the fabric. It amazed me, because this was the very first time I looked at her belly as well, really looked at it, and noticed that there was something happening inside of it – something beautiful and wonderful, and something that was completely ours.

I wanted to say something, but before I could, Luisa slowly ran her hands over her tummy.

'It… it really has grown bigger, hasn't it…'

'Yeah.' I put my hands on her tummy as well. 'I don't really know what to say.'

'Well,' Luu kind of breathlessly asked me, 'does it… does it look nice?'

'It looks soft.'

'…in a good way?'

I chuckled, which I almost never did, really, and nodded at her.

'Yes Luisa. You're gorgeous, cutie.'

She blushed and looked away, not sure how to reply to that – and so I took that chance to kiss and caress her stomach.

I firstly just wanted to keep it superficial and sweet, to be honest. Just a few tender, gentle kisses on her warm, glowing body, as if I wanted to reassure her everything was going to be okay, everything was fine, everything would be great…

…but then I heard Luisa started to pant a little, and I saw she squeezed the sheets next to her tightly, and then I realized that she wasn't kidding when she told me before I was turning her on.

And that really turned me on.

So I kept on kissing and nipping at her skin as my hands slid over her back, to her short PJ-pants, and began to pull them down – the PJ-pants and her undies, both at once. At the same time, my lips went further downwards as well, but before I could even spread her legs to get a better access, Luisa stopped me with a shrill shriek and snapped her legs shut, like a clam.

'N-n-n-no,' she stammered, her face so red and hot I could barbecue stuff on it, 'I-I… I really need to pee!'

'Ohh.' I replied. 'Good call.'

'And!' She swallowed and sat up again. 'A-and I really think I… I should take a shower, first! Before you… y-y-you know!'

'You know I honestly don't care.'

'But I do!' Luisa pointed out. 'G-god! You can be so fucking gross!'

'It's your fault, really. You shouldn't be so sexy. It's very distracting.'

That made Luu smile and she shyly put some of her hair behind her ear. 'Asshole. R-right back at you.'

Luisa was very pretty when she smiled, it had about the same effect on her face and entire being as an idyllic landscape that was being colored by the lights of a setting sun. I always like drinking cold glasses of pineapple juice in such a scenery.

'Well.' Luisa got out of bed. 'I guess I should… take a shower now.'

'You go do that,' I nodded, because I agreed with that, after all, she really was going to take a shower.

However, I should have seen it coming when she suddenly took a dash at The Grand Cahier of Time, still lying on the floor.

…

…

Oh yeah. I forgot about that.

'Ha-HAAAAH!' Luisa dramatically cackled as she snatched the notebook off the wooden floor, and waved the Grand Cahier of Time at me like it was a trophy, which it kind of was.

'You dumb fuck. Did you reallllllly believe I was just going to let this fucking thing slip, just because you went hot and handsome on me? No way! No effing way, Seb!'

'So it was an act? You actually don't want to have sex later?' I asked.

'Of course I want to have sex with you later, you ass.' Luisa's blushes turned a bit purple now. 'B-b-but that's not the point right now! Your cahier thing! I have it now and I'm going to read the crap out of it and then I'll know what you're hiding from me and ohhhh, you'll be so… um… so annoyed with that! In your face!'

I didn't respond to her playful taunting, I simply sat on the bed and watched Luisa with a mixed feeling in the pit of my stomach, knowing that there was no point in trying to stop her from flipping through the pages. So I let her, and I observed her face as closely as I could while she opened the notebook and scanned every single page I had scribbled on.

'What the fuck, you crossed out everything you wrote – I can't read a word!' Luisa made a cranky face and lowered the Grand Cahier of Time a bit so I could see said crankiness. 'What's the use of being all secretive with a notebook if you've not even written anything that's worthy of being read!'

I felt relieved, but hid that feeling and shrugged, as normally as possible. 'It's written in Dutch – you wouldn't be able to read it anyway.'

That actually was a lie: I didn't write in Dutch when I was in Spain, because I needed to improve my Spanish and English. I wrote the things in that notebook in English. Which in hindsight was pretty damn stupid, I should have totally written all of that in Dutch instead, that would have made this whole situation less difficult for me.

After all, do you see 'do you want to marry me?' in 'wil je met me trouwen?'

No.

You don't.

Because Dutch is the language they all speak in hell.

…

Well I honestly do believe they convict murderers and other criminals that go to hell after they've died to making Dutch spelling tests and the like for eternity.

But I digress.

Luisa frowned and kept rereading some things over and over again, but ultimately, she just sighed and dropped the notebook, a confused look on her face.

'Seb?'

'Yes?' I replied.

'Whatever you wrote in that notebook…' she started, looking a bit unsure right now, '…should I be worried about it? I mean, you don't have to tell me what you wrote in there if you really don't want to tell me, but… but is it something about me? Is it something I should…'

'It's nothing you should worry about, Luu.' I gave her a sincere look. 'It's something I've been wanting to do for a while now, but I just don't know how to. That's it, really. I can't make it any more comprehensible than that right now.'

'Okay.' Luisa nodded. 'I'll trust you.'

'You should.'

She smiled a bit and pointed to the door of the bathroom. 'I'll… be taking a shower now.'

'Nice.'

'You stay right there.'

'Less nice.'

She giggled at that reply, before disappearing into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. I didn't do anything for a little while, I sat on the bed and listened to the water running in the other room. Luisa liked talking long showers and I liked waiting for her as she made me wait for her like this. It was like foreplay.

…

I then got out of bed as well, and walked towards the bathroom. I didn't suddenly ran into the room, like bam, surprise, because Luu would kick my ass if I did something that rash and random, but I did lean against the wall next to the door, sliding down it until I sat on the ground.

I knew that the walls in my apartment were pretty thin. Luisa and I should move to a better place before the baby would be born, because one: this place was too cramped for three people, and two: I didn't feel like apologizing to neighbors whenever the baby cried his or her lungs out.

…

'Hey, Luu?' I then spoke up.

Nothing.

'Luu?' I tried again.

'Yes?' I heard her answer.

'I'm going to ask you to marry me tonight.'

'What?'

'I'm going to ask you to marry me tonight.'

Luisa didn't say anything in return after that. The water stopped running all of a sudden as well, and I could also hear noises of Luisa, hurriedly getting out of the shower cabin and hissing and stammering things I couldn't understand. Then the door of the bathroom was hastily pushed open, and Luu appeared in a cloud of steam, one measly pink tower barely covering her body.

I looked up at her and she looked down at me, her eyes big and green, and her hair wet and dripping all over my expensive parquetry.

'W-what?' she asked me once more, her voice barely audible.

'I'm going to ask you to marry me tonight,' I repeated, again. 'That was what I wrote in that notebook.'

'Oh,' Luisa said.

'Yeah. I'm not sure how I'm going to ask you yet, though.' I furrowed my brows and ruffled my hair. 'I'm trying to think of a way to bring it to you very originally and stuff, but I'm not as creative as you are.'

'Oh,' Luisa said.

'Yeah,' I said. We were pretty repetitive today. 'But I thought, well, whatever happens, I better inform Luu, so she knows what's going to happen.'

She smiled, but didn't speak.

'So you can, you know. Prepare yourself. Mentally and stuff. I… don't want you to panic and reject me. So. Think about it. About the pro's of saying yes, I mean. Tonoght. No – tonight. You know.'

I bit my lip and exhaled slowly.

'Please know.'

Luisa laughed, or sobbed, I couldn't really tell the difference, and dropped on her knees, crawling closer to me to grab my shirt and pull me really close – really, really close, our noses bumping.

'I'll, as you asked me, think about it,' she stammered, her voice light and happy, 'but yes. Yes, Seb, yes yes yes, always yes, always.'

'Y-yes?' I heard myself stutter.

'Of course. Of course, you fucking fool.' She burst into more tears and laughs and put her arms around me, holding and hugging me with her damp, kind everything. 'I love you – I love you – I love you so much…!'

I laughed a bit as well, and then I cried a bit as well, and then I hugged her back a bit as well, and told her I loved her as well.

Not a bit, though.

Very much.

RSS

'Imma go look reals pwetti,' Mia – very seriously – told me as she let Matteo comb her hair, and picked out all kinds of cutesy hair decorations her father needed to stick in her curly hairdo later.

'Oh yes, I'm sure you will.' I smiled when Mia grinned contently at her own reflection in the girly dresser table. It was a small, plastic, pastel-yellow-with-pink-and-green-and-red-flowers vanity, "exclusively made for young & beautiful girls!~" and it was everything I didn't like, since… well, it was a very sexist piece of 'toy' and I'm sure Matteo hadn't liked it very much either when Mia had asked him to get her this… thing for her last birthday.

But Matteo wants his little girl to be happy, so of course he bought it for her, and now, Mia used it on a daily basis: whenever she got up early in the morning and had something special waiting for her (like a visit from one of her daycare-friends, or a party, or, you know, nothing in particular), she hobbled over to wherever Matteo was and demanded him to discard everything he was doing/holding, because her hair had to be done!

And because Matteo was sweet, kind and understanding Matteo (and very defenseless against his shockingly witty daughter), he always gave in right away.

This morning was no difference – Mia had waltzed into the bedroom, ignoring my and Matteo's red faces and rambled excuses as we tried to explain why we were hugging each other in the nude and everything, and simply told us to cut it out and help her getting her groove on.

'Alssssso, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww!'

Then she had left the room again.

…

Well, the mood was effectively ruined after that, since Matteo got all embarrassed and worried about possibly having scared his kid and fell out of bed again while I just couldn't stop snorting and chortling at how silly the whole situation was.

So after picking himself up from the floor, Matteo promised me we'd continue tonight where we had left off and made me stop giggling immediately with saying just that, because he gave me this really unusually smouldering look while saying that.

We quickly got dressed after that and went to Mia's bedroom, where she was already sitting in front of her dresser table, on the cute little blue stool. Matteo started combing her hair with the Disney-esk… hair-tools, and I sat down on the floor next to the little girl, listening to her excited, cute and high-pitched ramblings.

'…and yous gotta look pwetti two, Rakel,' she said to me at a sudden moment.

I stopped poking into the face of a really big stuffed animal (was it a pig, was it a rabbit, was it a pig-rabbit - I didn't know) and gave Mia an uncomfortable smile.

'I'm not sure…'

'You're not sure?' Matteo replied in surprise, while Mia puffed her cheeks and frowned at me.

'Yous hafta look pwetti! 'Cause yous awe pwetti!'

Mia's reasoning didn't make much sense to me most of the time – b-but I tried hard to get it! – but this time, I think I understood what she told me.

'I-I just… don't think I can be as pretty as you, Mia!' I quickly tried to save what was savable – but Matteo furrowed his brows at me and Mia clacked her tongue dismissively.

'Noone gets pwettir than Mi-a – ehehehehe, I says Mi-a, get it, me an' a!~'

'Funny,' I agreed, giving her the high-five she was now asking from me, 'but, well, you always look nice, Mia. In a dress, in pants… it doesn't really matter what you wear, you still look adorable and very cool!'

'Yous cool,' Mia decided.

I laughed weakly and rubbed my arm. 'I'm no—'

'YOUS COOL,' Mia repeated and covered her ears. 'Yous cool, yous cool, yous cool, lalalalalalaaaa, dun't hear, yous cool…'

I chuckled and had no choice but to give in, really.

'A-alright, alright, I'm coo-'

'YOUS COOL!'

'I wanted to say that!'

'Well ah sayids it bedder.' Mia grinned broadly at me.

'Done,' Matteo said, and Mia let out a cheery 'yaaaaaaaay!', after which she hopped off her stool. She nodded contently at her reflection, turned to her father to hug him and say thank-you, and she ran over to me to hug me, and then she sprinted out of the bedroom, yelling 'PIZZAS' for some reason… I… well, I must have missed something, I guess.

'It's one of her favorite shows,' Matteo started explaining to me, as if he had heard my thoughts. 'It's about walking and talking food. I think it's really dumb, but sometimes Mia quotes stuff from it and my god, you'd be amazed at how philosophical a TV-series about living food can be! Maybe I should recommend it to David.'

'Haha,' I said.

Matteo gave me this really weirded-out look (like 'whoa, what fake stuff came out of your mouth right now?'), and then he patted the tiny stool in front of him.

'Come and have a seat.'

'On that thing? In front of that thing?' I glared at the vanity. 'No, thank you. I'm fine like this.'

'Don't lie to me.'

I cringed a bit.

'You're worried about something,' Matteo said. 'I can tell. It's fine – you can worry as much as you want – but you know I don't like it when you keep things to yourself like that. So please have a seat here and tell me.'

I eyed him oddly. 'So you can do my hair and talk to me at the same time?'

'Yep!' He instantly beamed a huge smile at me. 'I like talking and I like making hairdos. It's like killing two birds with one stone!~'

I wanted to protest – I did want to talk to him, but I really didn't want to pay any more attention to that dumb vanity than needed. However, that face – ugh, he was just too… ugh.

'Fine, fine…' I caved, getting up from the floor, and I awkwardly sat down again on the blue stool. It was way too tiny for me and my butt, of course. Not because I was fat – because I really wasn't – but because it was a child's stool, for heaven's sake, and I definitely wasn't a child anymore.

But I fitted, so I sitted. Sat, I mean. I sat.

'Any time when you're ready,' I mumbled to Matteo, who took a hairbrush and a comb from the dresser table and started plowing through my thick, short locks. It felt pretty nice. Matteo had done this before, obviously, and it struck to me that he actually had a lot of talents. Many of them weren't manly at all, but he proved that liking to do them and being really good at doing them, and unashamedly doing them, too – well, that really made him extremely manly in my eyes.

'Well, first of all,' Matteo calmly said as the bristles of the brush massaged my scalp, 'you told me and Mia that you weren't too sure you would look pretty tonight. Which of course is ridiculous, because I already know you'll be the most beautiful woman of the entire party. I also know that you're fully aware of how beautiful you are in my and Mia's eyes. So why would you say such a thing?'

I felt like I was being gently scolded, really, and maybe that was good. I therefore tried to be as honest as possible with Matteo, since he… well… he deserved it.

'Um… well, you see… I talked to Alejo the other day…'

'Oh god.' Matteo's eyes rolled – I could see in the dresser table's mirror – and he shook his head. 'So it's Allie. Allie had something to comment about. Let me guess. He didn't think you are fashionable enough?'

'Something like that.' I wiggled around on the stool and tried to avoid accidentally kicking over the vanity – it was placed a bit too close to my legs. 'Alejo said that maybe I'm not feminine enough to wear dresses, and he said I should seriously consider trying out a more… how did he call it… androgyny-look?'

'And? Have you considered it?'

I nodded. 'I have.'

'So are you going to try out that look?'

'W-well, maybe I should. But I have some doubts.' I pressed my lips together for a second, before continuing. 'For starters, I-I don't know if you will like to see me like that—'

'You really shouldn't care about that. You're beautiful, no matter what you wear or what you look like.' Matteo smiled lovingly at me – again, via the mirror. 'Also, if I happen to dislike that look, for some crazy reason, you should keep in mind that my opinion is just my opinion. You should wear what you want to wear, My Highness. Always. Regardless of what other people tell you.'

'B-but that's the thing, really. Although I do think that… that Alejo's look will suit me, I still want to… I…'

I hesitated, but looked up at his reflection nevertheless.

'…I-I don't think I'm like that. I may look like… like this, but I'm actually pretty… p-pretty girly.'

Matteo stopped brushing my hair and stared at me.

'That's what I've discovered about myself so far.' I looked at the pink and red decorations on the tiny vanity. 'I-I like girly things. Very stereotypical girly things, too. I like ribbons and flowers, I like animals and kids, I like princesses and princes, cookies and cakes, kisses and hugs… I-I'm not into videogames or fighting… I don't like bugs or dark colors…'

Matteo nodded encouragingly at me, switching to the comb now.

'…but I'm not-girly with other… things. I don't like long hair. Not with me, I mean. And although I like dresses on special occasions, I rather wear pants and simple shirts and sweaters when it's a normal day. I also don't really like wearing make-up if there's nothing special going on. I have no sense for style and I don't care about shoes, bags, clothes or nail polish. It's really weird. It doesn't make any sense.'

Matteo laughed and stopped combing my hair to wrap his arms around my shoulders and give me a hug from behind.

'It does make sense, Raquel.' He nuzzled my neck affectively. 'That's your personality, sweetie – and like every single personality, it's impossible to stick a clear and all-explaining tag or label on it. What you just said, and described, and told me about yourself – that's all part of who you are. And you found out.'

He squeezed me a bit tighter.

'You found a part of yourself, Raquel. Well done! I'm so very proud of you…'

I chuckled softly and leaned back in his embrace. 'Y-you are?'

'Yes I am. Of course I am. Don't ever doubt that, My Highness.'

He pecked a kiss on my cheek and then stood upright again, sighing happily.

'So!~ You now know what to tell Allie when we're going to visit him in about a few hours?'

'That… I'm going to wear a dress?'

Matteo nodded instantly. 'That's right, you're going to wear a dress and you're going to show that jerk just how feminine and girly you are. I'm not going to stop you and I sure as hell won't let Allie stand in your way.'

I giggled a bit and gave him an admiring look. 'That… that's pretty harsh talk for a cute princess…'

'I'm not your average everyday cute princess.' He grinned at me. 'You, of all people, should know that by now.'

I blushed and decided not to respond to that. No, I stared at my flushed face instead. Oh god. The hickey he gave me earlier this morning was still quite visible in my neck.

'Th-there's something else you should know,' I then said.

Matteo, who now was humming as he put a long, light-blue ribbon in my hair like a headband – even making a cute bow knot in it - paused and raised his eyebrows questioningly at me.

'I want to wear high heels at the party.' I frowned. 'But I'll be… well, taller than you if I do. Also, I've never walked on high heels before.'

He blinked. 'So?'

'Well… should I really…?'

'Yes, you should!' Matteo said. 'You definitely should! You'll look amazing on high heels!'

'I-I will?'

'Your legs.' Matteo paused again and put his hands on my shoulder, shuddering visibly. 'God, your legs. You have the most-gorgeous legs I've ever seen on a woman. They can make a gay man turn straight. You should show them!'

I smiled uncomfortably. 'So… I'll get lots of attention?'

'Yes!'

'Of men?'

'Absolutely!'

'You're not bothered by that?'

'Are you bothered by me getting attention from other people?'

'Yes.' I scowled when I thought about that Wolfgang-guy. Asshole. 'Very much. You're my boyfriend, not theirs.'

'Ohh, possessive, aren't you?~' Matteo smiled smugly. 'Well so am I.'

That surprised me a bit. 'Are you?'

'You bet I am!' He laughed, but it sounded a bit strange – a bit restricted, as if this fact was embarrassing for him to admit. 'Because… in case you didn't know yet, you're a very attractive woman, Raquel – of course I'm worried about how other people will respond to you. Of course I'm afraid of… of losing you.'

He was done with my hair and now gazed at me through the mirror, his hands still on my shoulders.

'However, that shouldn't stop you from being the way you want to be, Raquel.'

'You're honest.' I raised a hand and slid it on top of one of his, looking at my content reflection at the same time. 'I appreciate that. Thank you.'

Then I looked up, so I could see his real face looking down at me.

'I look nice. Thanks for that, too! You're just so kind and cute. I might eat you up one day.'

Matteo froze. His eyes grew twice their size and his cheeks got as red as the heart-shaped decoration on the dresser table.

'U-um. O-okay…'

'Let's eat some breakfast. I'm starving, and I'm sure Mia would like some food, too!'

I raised from the stool and wanted to tell Matteo that I felt like making pancakes, just like the Americans – but Matteo said he needed to sit down on the stool and, as he put it, 'recover' for a while.

It was very confusing for me to see him sitting there with his hands covering his face and making all kinds of silly sounds, while still blushing his face off, but a very comforting voice in the back of my head told me that I should tell him those kinds of things more often.

So I promised myself I would.