Okay, guys, guys! Romano thinking he is straight is weird for all of us but Spamano is coming, it's coming. It's just taking it's sweet time.

Many thanks to LostUmbreon, Republic-of-Yolossia and ScarletteSorceress for following and favoriting. You guys are awesome!

Republic-of-Yolossia, I was trying to figure out where I knew your name from, it was driving me crazy! Then I remembered that I'd read your fic Only one to stand by me and that inspired me to write my own RoBul fic. I'm very exited to see you here!

To my amazing reviewers, thank you all so much for reviewing! Spamano for all! (Finally).

To DeathbladeMeister, don't worry; I've the love interest for Nicky thing completely covered. Oh dear, I've said too much! And FLYING MINT BUNNY PEEPS! You are too kind to this strange little author and her strange, strange little fic.

AnimeLover in heaven; no! No-one's Spamano hopes are crushed!

Taco Box; yeah, it's even weirder writing about him being straight, trust me! And I spoiled something? I don't remember that.

Aku-Chan The Devil-San; don't worry, I got this. Good idea though. Gives me a plot twist of my own. Hee hee hee. You'll probably hate me when you find out what it is. And I'm glad you liked it.

To the previously mentioned LostUmbreon; glad you liked it! You guys are always so enthusiastic, it makes me happy!

ZanyAnimeGirl Yes, yes, it was hard on everyone. Spamano forever! Glad you liked it.

And last but not least, more thanks to Seth Kirkland-Jones who always makes me want to write this fic.

Chapter 9: The Discovery

"Hey Gilbert, what's wrong?" Dimitri questioned, jogging up beside his friend.

Gilbert didn't even break his stride; he immediately put an arm around Dimitri, resting a hand on the middle of his back to keep him walking.

"What's the rush?" Dimitri questioned, it was unlike Gilbert to be so eager to get to class on time. And it was lunch time now anyway, if he was at the University at all he should have been with Antonio and Francis. What was he doing here with Dimitri?

"Just keep walking and maybe I'll make it through the day without punching a woman." Gilbert muttered.

What? Does he want to punch me? Why!? Thought Dimitri, panicked. Oh this was just not his week.

As it turned out Dimitri was not the girl Gilbert wanted to punch, "oh there she is," a female voice Dimitri didn't recognise trilled, "and she's with a different man, what a 'surprise!'" The voice was deliberately talking overly loudly so everyone around her could hear her. Dmitri glanced back; it was the platinum blonde female whose name he still didn't know, the one who had called him desperate for always hanging out with the guys. He had now doubt she was speaking of him again today. Her group, still gathered around her like a flock of sheep, tittered and pointed.

"Still, I can understand why she's going from man to man. It's not like she could ever keep one."

"But think about all those STDs she's gotten from sleeping around with them all," a honey blond girl with a haircut exactly the same as the platinum blonde's said. "Maybe we should warn him." The group tittered again.

Gilbert hissed slightly under his breath, "so unawesome," he muttered. He sped up, unwillingly, Dimitri did too.

"I understand that they're aggravating and mean but I don't see why the chaperone is necessary," Dimitri said.

Gilbert grimaced, "you might not need the protection but I do."

"Huh?" Asked Dimitri, inarticulately. Immediately, he got his answer.

"Hi Gilbert," the honey blonde approached them and gave Dimitri's companion a sultry smile.

Gilbert winced slightly and grabbed Dimitri's sleeve with both hands like a scared young girl, "...hey...Melinda," he said reluctantly

Her simpering smile seemed to falter for a split second but was then plastered back on her face.

"A couple of friends and me were going to have lunch at that new Chinese restaurant down the street; we were hoping you could come along?" She ignored Dimitri completely which was fine by him.

Gilbert looked apologetic, or at least tried to, "sorry, I have plans with Francis and Tony, guy stuff you know." He sounded ridiculously unconvincing and Dimitri fought hard to stifle his sniggers. Man, Gilbert would never get away with pretending to be a girl.

Then again with that body Gilbert would never get away with pretending to be a girl anyway but that wasn't the point.

Melinda looked disappointed, "aww, I was hoping you could come." She touched his arm, "ah well, maybe next time."

"Yeah, maybe," Gilbert managed and, throwing Dimitri a filthy look, the blonde sauntered off.

"Come on, let's get the heck outta here, nowhere can be as bad as here with her." Gilbert tightened his grip on Dimitri's arm and dragged him off.

"You know her?" Dimitri questioned.

"Yeah, she's been chasing the awesome me around since the second she saw me at her classroom a year ago." Another grimace, "that's the last time I ever volunteer to pick Bella up from anywhere."

"So that's probably why she hates me personally," said Dimitri, "poor thing," he added unconvincingly.

Gilbert nodded, "yeah, but she doesn't hate you nearly as much as Richelle."

Dimitri raised a brow, "I'm guessing Richelle is the woman with the platinum blonde hair who started the rumours about me?"

Gilbert nodded, "yeah, I think you pissed her off big time."

Dimitri's red eyes flicked to Gilbert's own and then away, "do you have any idea what I did to piss her off so bad. I mean besides become more popular with the guys than she is." He attempted a hair flip and Gilbert laughed.

"Well, is it true that Nickolas Raev moved in with you a month ago?"

"You know it is," Dimitri replied.

Gilbert nodded again, "then yes, I know what you did to really annoy her. Though you're right; she already didn't like you because you were more popular with the guys than she was." He slung a playful arm around Dimitri's waist and pulled him closer. Dimitri laughed and jokingly elbowed him away.

If only you knew, he thought, he felt briefly guilty but pushed it aside. "Well, I've found acting like a normal human being and not a plastic-smiling-sheep helps in getting guys to like you."

"Yeah, well maybe you should tell Melinda that."

Dimitri couldn't help it, he started to laugh, "That conversation actually looked painful for you."

"It was," Gilbert shuddered and Dimitri laughed harder, it was funny seeing Gilbert shaken from his usual 'awesome' self.

"Trust me, it looked incredibly painful. It almost made me miss Magda." Dimitri laughed. Almost.

"Who?" Asked Gilbert, puzzled.

"Anyway," said Dimitri, ignoring him, "don't you have 'guy stuff' to do with Francis and Antonio?" He was teasing him; he knew full well that Gilbert had been lying.

"Haha," Gilbert said sarcastically, "sorry Mina, you aren't getting rid of the awesome me that easily. Antonio is somewhere with Lovino, I think he's still at home and Fran is on a date with some red haired chick. Or dude, not really sure."

Suddenly Gilbert stopped dead and swore, running a hand through his white hair.

"What's wrong?" Asked Dimitri, stopping too.

"That chick's name was Melissa, not Melinda." Gilbert looked sheepish.

There was silence between them for a second and then Dimitri broke down into hoots of real, full-on laughter, "oh man, sucks to be her. And you." He wiped away tears of mirth and cleared his throat, adjusting the pitch of his voice. It was always harder to use his girl's voice when he got emotional in any way.

"Hey, it's not the awesome me's fault that she's not memorable." Gilbert protested. He sighed loudly, "why can't I just get a girl who's strong, confident, maybe a little sweet; on the inside, and isn't afraid to show how she really feels. Is that too much to ask?"

On the other side of the building, waiting in the cafe alone for that damn Romanian brat to show up, Elizabeta Héderváry sneezed violently. "Ooh," she rubbed her nose, wincing. "I think someone is talking about me."

"So, moving out soon?" Antonio began, keeping his voice deceptively mild.

"Mmm," acknowledged Lovino, taking a sip from his coffee and nodding. He was sitting on the couch in the front room of the apartment he was renting with Antonio. Antonio sat beside him with a soft sigh, heart hammering nervously. He had to do this. Lovino might be disgusted with him, might hate him and feel betrayed; Antonio would never be able to live with himself if that happened.

But he would never be able to live with himself if he let Lovino walk out of here without ever telling him how he felt about him either.

I'm screwed either way, I might as well go for it, thought Antonio. "We've known each other a long time," he began uncertainly.

Lovino snorted, "too long if you ask me," but as usual, he didn't mean it and Antonio took no offence, this grumpy exterior was just part of who Lovino was and Antonio wouldn't change him for the world. He saw Lovino like a chocolate, a hard outside with a sweet centre.

Of course, he would never tell the Italian that. He didn't have a death wish.

Lovino was looking both curious and annoyed, "stop staring at me and spit it out you damn Spaniard!" He yelled. Lovino might act all hostile but he knew Antonio and knew that whatever he had to say was important, possibly having something to do with what had been eating at the usually happy-go-lucky Spaniard for months now.

Yeah, Lovino was very close to Antonio, this meant he knew when not to bug the Spaniard about what was on his mind.

This also meant he knew when to give him a push to get him started.

Antonio shook himself and realized that he had gotten sidetracked. He quickly focused back on the topic at hand.

"Well...I care about you, a lot. And I know you care about me too," Lovino nodded; usually he would bluster and shout that he most certainly did not, but now was not the time for that. He remained silent.

"Well..." Antonio said again and Lovino wanted to shout at him to hurry up already but held his tongue.

"Well what if I said I had something important to confess to you? Something that might make you hate me," Antonio said carefully, watching the younger man's reaction sharply.

Lovino snorted and leaned back in his seat, "I would tell you to hurry up and spit it out, that you don't have anything to worry about. You should know I could never really hate you." He didn't look at Antonio as he said this. Lovino didn't have a problem with expressing emotions through gestures, but saying something verbally? Sincerely? Massively uncomfortable.

Antonio knew this and was touched that Lovino had made the effort to reassure him.

"Well I don't know about that mi amigo, this might just make you." But like Lovino, Antonio valued actions over words.

So instead of stammering through what was already destined to be an awkward and embarrassing love confession, he leaned forwards and kissed Lovino on the lips.

Lovino was so stunned he actually allowed the kiss for a few seconds, then he pulled away, but only slightly, he stared at Antonio with bright eyes and even brighter cheeks, Antonio was expecting something along the lines of 'WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!'

Instead, Lovino breathed, "oh, so that's what you wanted to 'tell' me."

Antonio leaned forwards and brushed his lips over Lovino's again, shutting his eyes, "I love you," he could say it as long as he didn't have to look into the Italian's green eyes.

Lovino's arms wound around Antonio's neck before he gripped the Spaniard's hair, yanking him down into another kiss, this one much more passionate than the first two.

Caught by surprise, Antonio leaned forwards into the kiss much further than normally would have; Lovino leaned backwards, turning slightly so Antonio was hovering over him on the couch as the kiss deepened.

As Antonio took possession of Lovino's mouth his hands roamed across his chest to rest on the Italian's slim hips, pulling him closer.

In turn, Lovino's hands moved from Antonio's hair to his broad shoulders, his fingernails digging in slightly.

The pressure made Antonio groan with pleasure and the sound sent a jolt through Lovino's whole body. If possible, the kiss intensified.

Lovino clung to Antonio desperately, his mind in turmoil, he had kissed Bella before, of course, plenty of times and a few girls here and there before her. But, though he had enjoyed kissing them, there was always something not right, something missing. He pressed himself closer to Antonio.

This felt right.

And Antonio's words rung through Lovino's head, filling him with a warmth he had never felt before.

I love you.

The world made sense to Lovino. Heaven help him, he loved Antonio too, always had. He'd just been too blind and stubborn to realize it. And now...

Antonio pulled away so fast Lovino's head spun from the lack of contact.

"S-sorry," the Spaniard panted, "that got way out of hand. I only meant to...I just couldn't let you marry Bella without knowing the truth."

He swallowed, "I'm sorry, I ruined everything. But I do love you, Lovino." He leaned forwards and kissed the stunned Italian's cheek before walking outside to clear his head and give Lovino some time to figure out his thoughts.

The second he was gone Lovino slumped forwards and rested his own head in his hands, "aww fuck!"

"And that's pretty much what happened," Lovino admitted, folding his hands in his lap, hunched over slightly.

On the park bench beside him, Bella regarded her fiancé with something that looked like relief but said nothing.

"Ah!" Lovino put his head in his hands again and gripped his brown hair, "he kissed me and I let him! I even kissed back! Forget that, I initiated the damn thing! Mostly. But it opened my eyes Bella. I love him, I really love him. I'm in love with him."

He looked at her with tortured green eyes, "I love you, I really do. But I'm not in love with you. And I'm not sure I ever was. I-" his voice choked, "I am so sorry, I can't even begin to..."

His hands were gripping the material of his designer jeans now; Bella reached over and placed her small hand over his larger one, "I know Lovino. I always have."

He stared at her as though she'd just said she was a 5000ft tall alien from outer space here to abduct skipping ropes to make into weapons in a fight against peanuts.

"W-what? You knew? How? I didn't know!" He stammered, looking like he'd been hit around the head.

Bella laced her fingers with his, "when we first became serious, I loved you and I know you loved me. But I could always sense there was a part of you that I just couldn't touch. I've known you and Antonio for years, and known how he felt about you since we were children. I didn't have to look very hard to see what was right in front of me."

"B-but, I, you, Antonio," Lovino stammered, completely lost for words.

Bella smiled and continued, "I accepted your proposal because I knew you still loved me. But I also knew that one day you would figure out your feelings for Antonio on your own, it wasn't something I could force you to accept. And I vowed that when you did, I would be there for you no matter what. You're my friend Lovino. Before anything else, you and Antonio are my friends. You're both already my family, nothing will change that. And while I might still love you," she admitted, "I made my peace with this a long time ago. I'm going to be here for you no matter what."

She squeezed his hand, Lovino cupped it with his free one and brought her hand to his mouth, kissing it gently, "I never deserved you," he murmured.

Bella laughed and used their intertwined hands to pull Lovino to his feet, "c'mon! Let's go catch us a Spaniard!"

Nickolas Raev put down his phone and sighed, however, unlike most sighs, it was simply a tired sigh, not a reluctant or sad one. Actually he was rather happy right now.

He left the room that, after three weeks had passed with no sign of him moving out, had been dubbed 'his,' and made his way into the living room.

Mina was sitting there, curled up on the couch reading. Though he would rather shoot himself in the leg than admit it, Nickolas's heart warmed at the sight of her. She was a bright light in his life now, one of the few. But though he liked Mina quite a lot, he sensed there was still a wall between them. Secrets, his and hers.

Yeah, he knew she was hiding something, he wasn't stupid. He just didn't know what.

Oh well, can't be any more drastic than my secret, he thought, unaware that 'Mina' had thought the exact same thing more than once.

He touched her shoulder and she looked up, smiling, "hey Nicky, what's up?"

Nicky. No one had ever been allowed to call him that before, yet somehow she had earned that privilege. Nickolas wasn't sure when, but it sounded right.

"Hey," he began, still not 100% sure why he was doing this, "break starts next week."

Mina sighed gratefully, "thank God! Though I'm not sure what I'm so exited about, I don't have any plans. I'll just be hanging around here all the time. What about you?"

"Err," Nickolas rubbed the back of his head, he was no good at this, "actually, I was wondering about that. You see, I'm going back to Bulgaria for a week, I have to clear some stuff up with my parents, long overdue stuff, and I hate flying alone. I was hoping," a blush began to form on his cheeks, "that I could buy you a ticket, we could go together."

Mina sat up, "you want me to go to Bulgaria with you?" A matching blush began to spread over her cheeks.

"If it's not a problem with you; please."

"Oh," 'Mina's' heart began to beat faster, "okay."

And done. Sorry I'm a day late, so much happened. Wednesday was my final exam from High School ever (never going back!), Thursday was my 17th birthday and I was busy the rest of the week, on Sunday when I thought I was finally going to get time to write I, I dunno, I must've done something to my eye but I'm not sure what. All I know is I popped at least three blood vessels and it hurt like Hell so that was very distracting. But I'm here now! Hope you enjoyed, that is the only kiss I have ever written that lasted more than three seconds, I reached a milestone. I hope it wasn't too bad (shut up, I tried!). And Mina didn't have quotation marks around it for most of the last paragraph because those parts were from Nickolas's POV and he knows him as Mina. It only had quotations when I was writing about Dimitri, not Nickolas seeing 'her.' Just thought I should clear that up.

The next chapter will be 99% RoBul, yay! Finally!

That's all for now folks, see you in six days!

Wait a minute...If today's Monday, that means the next chapter of Austria's Musical is due in...

Please excuse me. *Types furiously*

Bye!