Wow. I have so many people to thank; this might be a huge author's note, bare with me guys.

My first thanks must go to my beloved reviewers;

To AnimeLover in heaven, well… let me put it this way, your first line is not what happened (for some reason I didn't think of that), and your second line is exactly what happened.

xXIceXxShatteredXx so glad you like it. If this is your first fic about this couple I'm glad I was able to make a good first impression of them!

Aku-Chan The Devil-San, yes, I loved your rants, this one too, and used your idea. And stop! You're going to make me blush *smiles* I'm so glad you like it, even if you did just want to read a cross-dressing fic originally.

…how many of you are here because of that?

…never mind. Anyway, Guest, I am glad you like it, I will be updating weekly as usual. I might even be on time now that I've finished High School.

Thank you all so much for reviewing

WHOO! I FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL!

Anyway, many thanks also go to Amy Kitty Katz, the previously mentioned xXIceXxShatteredXx, Seth Kirkland-Jones (I will use your idea, promise) and littlehanyan for following and favoriting. Thank you all so much! Thanks also go to Roxburry Black and ShowMeTheStarsIn221B for following. You guys rock!

Wow. I was right; this was a long author's note. But that just means I have lots of people to thank, so thank you!

And as thanks I give you… chapter 7!

Chapter 7: The Complications

Dimitri ran to kneel down by the young Lithuanian, "what happened?" He asked again.

Toris gave a sad smile as he held the cloth covered ice-pack to his purple left eye, "ran int' tro'ble," he tried to keep his tone light but it was hard for him to even talk with his split and swollen lower lip.

"Or it ran into you," Nickolas replied, "literally," he stepped forwards and adjusted Toris's hand slightly so the ice-pack was covering more of his eye. "I'm Nickolas; I'm a friend of Wilhelmina's." He introduced himself.

Toris smiled, or tried to anyway and, with Dimitri's help, sat up and extended his right hand, the only part of his exposed skin that didn't appear to be battered. "Tor's Laur'aitis, I work 'ere, I'm a fr'nd of Mina's t'." Another smile, this one apologetic, "I'm sorry, you guys hav'n't exa'ly caught me at m' best," he shook Nickolas's hand and then winced and brought his hand to his side, face creased in pain.

"Is there something I can do?" Dimitri asked, feeling helpless.

Toris shook his head, "no, no, 'at's okay, Feliks went t' get the first aid ki' but there's not r'lly much else t' be done."

He tried to take a couple of deep breaths and Dimitri saw that even the act of breathing was hard for him and caused him a lot of pain.

"What happened," Nickolas asked, this was the third time that they'd asked and Dimitri wanted a proper answer this time.

"Fell down the stairs at m' house," he said with a sigh.

Nickolas studied Toris with a critical, almost knowing gaze, "it looks like you got beat-up," he said blankly, "and if you fell down the stairs why did you come here?"

"And how many stairs did you fall down?! Jesus Toris! You look like you got chewed up and spat back out again." Dimitri agreed.

Toris's lips twitched, "I feel like tha'." He admitted, "But I r'lly di' fall down the stai' at m' house. I just came 'ere 'cause…I felt li' it."

"Oh yes." Feliks agreed, voice heavily sarcastic, zipping back into the room, a white first-aid kit in his hands, "the stairs blackened your eye, split your lip, broke your ribs and ankle, fractured your other ribs and left you bleeding on the shop's doorstep." He looked ready to spit fire. He turned to Dimitri and Nickolas, "hey guys? Did Toris, like, tell you the punch-line? His house doesn't have any stairs!"

"Felik'!" Toris snapped, Dimitri glanced at him, he'd never heard Toris snap at the blond Pole before, no matter how annoying he was being. He didn't seem the type to do so.

Feliks didn't back down, didn't even blink, "Mina's our friend Toris, she at least deserves to know the truth."

Toris glanced away and wouldn't meet anyone's eyes.

"Who did this to you?" Dimitri whispered, "Why did they…?" He couldn't imagine why anyone would want to hurt Toris, he was just so adorable and nice, sweet and caring and honest and hardworking and shy, just an all-round nice guy.

Feliks tutted as he yanked up Toris's shirt and began to wrap the bandages tightly around his chest, Toris winced and Nickolas and Dimitri glanced at each other worriedly, those mottled blue-black bruises did not look good.

"Uh…" Nickolas ran a hand through his dark hair, darker eyes troubled, "far be it for me to butt into someone else's business but…don't you think this is one of those things you should go to the hospital for? Broken ribs can be dangerous."

"That's what I said," grumbled Feliks.

Toris shook his head vehemently, then gasped and pressed a hand to his side. "Stay still"! Feliks snipped.

"I don't like goin' to hos'itals," Toris panted, "not af'er wha' happened last time I was in there for somethin' like this."

"Oh no, what happened?" Dimitri asked, and what exactly was 'something like this?' Had Toris been beaten to this degree before?

Toris and Feliks glanced at each other, and then away, "let's just say there were a couple of doctors and nurses at the hospital who, like, weren't very impressed when they found out Toris had been put in the hospital by a bunch of homophobes because he's gay." Said Feliks.

"Why is that a bad thing?" Asked Nickolas, puzzled, "I've got to admit I'm not very impressed by the idea of someone being beaten up because of their sexuality myself."

"They wer'n't impress'd wi' me," said Toris sadly, "some of 'em said quite horr'ble things when they thou't I could't hear." He winced again and dabbed at his bleeding lip, the cut had split open.

"Shh," Feliks reached into the first aid kit and took out a damp cloth which he gently pressed against Toris's lip, "stop talking, okay?"

"Okay," Toris agreed, Feliks glared as he rinsed the cloth out.

"Wise guy huh?" He grumbled, Toris couldn't help but smile.

Dimitri felt incredibly sad, he had admired Feliks and Toris because, while Toris anyway, didn't flaunt the fact that he was gay, they didn't hide it from the world either. But looking at Toris was stark reminder of the price they paid for that freedom. The world was a lot of things but it still wasn't a perfect place.

Nickolas sighed, looking as sad as Dimitri felt, "doctors are supposed to do their best to help people no matter who they are, why are people like us exceptions to that?"

"Us?" Dimitri and Toris asked together.

"Are you gay?" Dimitri asked, he knew it was ridiculous –he barely knew the guy- and completely out of place but his heart began to thump erratically. Maybe I have a chance. Mentally he slapped himself; get a hold of yourself man! He told himself. His heart rate went back to normal.

"Bi," Nickolas admitted, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I got kicked out of home for it when I told my parents, that's why I moved to America."

"Wow. You're ver' brave, I ne'er would've told my moth'r or stepfa'er." Toris said as clearly as he could, which wasn't very, ignoring Feliks's request for him to stop moving his mouth.

"Me neither," the Pole agreed.

Ditto, thought Dimitri, but he couldn't say so, instead he asked, "Where did you move from?"

"Bulgaria," Nickolas admitted, he stuffed his hands into his pockets, and he seemed sort of…twitchy. Maybe he had used up all of his ability to be social for the day.

"Cool. I'm from Romania," Dimitri said truthfully.

Nickolas nodded, "I thought I recognized that accent. Whereabouts are you from?"

"Cluj-Napoca, what about you?" Dimitri asked, he was actually from Bucharest but the less that could be traced from 'her' back to the missing Romanian Prince from Bucharest, the better.

"…Plovdiv," he answered after a second. Dimitri frowned, why did he get the feeling Nickolas wasn't telling the truth? He decided to let it go.

While they talked Feliks finished bandaging Toris and handed him two pain medication tablets and a glass of water. Toris downed them both and handed the glass back to Feliks, "thanks," he rasped.

Dmitri's concern was back full force, "is there anything I can do?" He asked desperately.

Toris just smiled, "no, thank you though, but I just want to go home now."

"Well…" Dimitri hesitated, there had to be something he could do. Grabbing a pen and a sticky note of the pad on the counter he scribbled his mobile number on it and handed it to Toris. "Here's my number, if you need anything, just call me, okay?"

Toris took the paper, "thank you Mina," he said sincerely.

After Dimitri and Nickolas left, Toris leaned back with a sigh. "Can you stand?" Asked Feliks, "I'll take you home. But if you can't stand I can totally carry you!"

"I c'n stan'," Toris said, rising with difficulty, he had no doubt that Feliks could carry him, the smaller man was ridiculously strong for his size, but Toris would rather be dead then put through that.

"Okay," Feliks moved to support him, taking his hand to steady him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders as best he could. "But after I drop you off I, like, need to run to my place real quick before I come back. Your brothers will be home, yeah?"

"Eduard'll be at 'is chess cl'b but Rav's will b' home yeah," Toris gasped, Eduard was his seventeen year old super smart brother and Ravis was his small, shy, fifteen year old brother. "Wait, why're you c'ming ba'k?" He asked, puzzled.

Feliks rolled his eyes, "to take care of you, duh! As if I was, like, going to leave you alone like this."

"I 'ave two bro'ers," Toris reminded him, or tried to anyway.

"And who's going to take care of you while they're at school?" Feliks asked, "This isn't going to, like, go away overnight you know." He reminded the younger male.

"I kno'," Toris sighed, he put up an argument all the way to Feliks's flashy pink Porsche. His argument was that he would be fine on his own thank-you-very-much, which was true, but he secretly had another motive for not wanting Feliks over his house.

He shared a two-bedroom apartment with his younger brothers and the place wasn't exactly a palace. He really didn't want Feliks to see his living quarters, didn't want the blond to think of him like that.

And with these new emotions he was beginning to feel whenever Feliks was around, Toris wasn't sure if the two of them staying together for an extended period of was a good idea. Who knew what he might say or do? He really didn't want to make an ass out of himself.

They got into the car, "you c'n come ova t'morrow if you're tha' worr'ed," Toris said.

"Do either of your brother's know first aid?" Feliks asked.

"No," replied Toris.

Feliks's hands tightened on the steering wheel, "then I'm not going anywhere."

"Wha's the w'rst tha' could happ'n?" Toris demanded. His lip split open again.

Feliks sighed dramatically and handed him a hot pink handkerchief he pulled out of his pocket, "do you really want me to answer that, Toris?"

After they left Dimitri grimaced apologetically at Nickolas, "sorry about that," he apologized, he grimaced again, "poor Toris."

"Yeah, it sucks," Nickolas agreed, he opened his mouth to say something else. Then his phone rang.

Nickolas sighed and pulled it out, he glanced at the caller ID but didn't seem to recognize it as the 'hello' he responded with was both polite and curious.

"Hello?" Queried Nickolas.

Shrieking filled the air, Nickolas yanked the phone away from his ear, cursing, as the woman on the other end continued to scream at him in Bulgarian.

"Mother! Please I-" Nickolas broke off as the woman's voice became so high and shrill that only bats would be able to hear it soon. Nickolas swore and hung up, before slipping his phone into his pocket. "Crap."

"That was your mother?" Dimitri asked, he was sure that was what he had heard but… "didn't you say that you ran awa-"

"Yes." Said Nickolas, shoving his hands into his pockets and sighing, "I have no idea how she got my number. Crap," he said again and ran his hands through his hair. "Crap."

That seemed to be the only word he was capable of until he sighed and muttered, "I need to get a new phone number."

"You don't want your parents to know where you are then?" Dimitri asked, he could relate. So could Feliks apparently, Toris too, and Roderich, even if he hadn't run away, and Elizabeta, and even Vash.

Dimitri sighed and ran his hands through his own hair, when did the scariest thing on this planet stop being the monsters under our beds and start being the people who are supposed to protect us from them?

"Well. Let's just say it would be easier," Nickolas muttered.

"I know how that feels," Dimitri murmured, not bothering with his girl's voice.

Nickolas's whipped around to face him, "what?" He demanded.

"What?" Asked 'Wihelmina' innocently, pretending to have said nothing.

Nickolas shook his head again. Then his phone rang, he glanced at it warily but apparently recognised the caller ID, his face lit up and he answered it eagerly, "hallo?" He asked in German.

The person on the other end replied but Dimitri couldn't hear what they were saying. Not that he was eavesdropping or anything, that would be wrong.

"What, are you serious?!" Asked Nickolas, he was actually speaking in German but if he was doing that so Dimitri couldn't understand him the joke was on him because Dimitri spoke German and knew what he was saying.

"Alright, thank you for telling me. No, you've done enough for me already. I'll handle it. Thanks. Goodbye," Nickolas said. He sighed for the thousandth time and hung up the phone. "You wouldn't happen to know of any nearby hotels would you?" He asked Dimitri in English.

"No." Said the Romanian male truthfully, "what's wrong?" Something was definitely wrong.

"I can't go back to my apartment," Nickolas said sadly.

Concern flitted through Dimitri again, "why not?"

"Just can't."

It was clear that he wasn't going to elaborate on the subject, "thanks anyway, let me walk you back home and then I'll take off. I've bothered you enough already." Said Nickolas.

"Do you have somewhere to stay?" Asked Dimitri, not budging and ignoring Nickolas's last comment, Nickolas shouldn't have to apologize for anything. Like being bisexual and having his mother scream at him was somehow his fault?

"Not really. But I'll find somewhere, I'm not completely useless."

I many have to call him again though, the Bulgarian male added silently.

"Well," Dimitri knew he was shooting himself in the foot but he couldn't help it, "I have a spare room. Would you like to stay with me?"

Nickolas whipped around to stare at 'her' again, "are you serious? You barely know me."

"Yeah well," Dimitri shrugged one shoulder, what are you doing?! His mind screamed at him, "If I only associated with people I knew here I'd be pretty lonely."

Nickolas stared at him for a long, long second, "you know. I was right before," he said. "You are very…odd. Well, I can't believe I'm saying this but, alright. If you're okay with it. Staying with you would be wonderful."

I dunno... I didn't really like this chapter. But now they're staying together for an unidentified period of time so I guess the chapter wasn't that bad *smirks*

It has come to my attention that I've written Feliks and Toris differently in this fic to how I normally do, they're usually friends before they fall in love. So don't expect any romantic stuff from them for a while, they've got to become besties first. Guess it's all up to Romania and Bulgaria. Hehehe…

Anyway, R & R guys, hope you enjoyed. I'm out.