Alfred ended up letting Tino use the shower first, dumping the towel into the Finn's arms, along with a pair of jeans and a light blue long-sleeve shirt. (The Finn was given underwear too, but that's another story) Then Alfred had chased Tino into the bathroom, and left him to shower. After a few minutes of trying to figure out how the damn thing worked, alternating between jets of hot and cold water, he found a nice temperature and relaxed. He fiddled with the cap on a bottle of lavender shampoo, then lathered the sweet-smelling substance onto his hair.

As he rinsed his hair, Tino thought of Alfred, who usually kept a strong masculine scent in the office, and wondered why on earth he had feminine shampoo. This new question made the two annoying voices in his head start up again. Yes, Tino talked to them often, so what?

"Here's a thought, maybe he has a GIRLFRIEND! So, Tino, dry yourself off and scoot yourself back to your gentle Swedish giant, who probably mistook Nikolas as you….because you two look so much alike! Yeah, that's it!"

"Shut up, Conscience." There went Bob. "Why don't we leave Tino alone with his friend? The boy needs a break!"

"Uh, fine."

Tino shook his head slightly, hitting the plastic curtain with droplets of water. He shut off the flow of water and stepped out of the shower. He wrapped a towel around his torso and wiped his feet on the fluffy bathroom mat. He looked out one of the massive windows, Alfred had said they were tinted so nobody could see inside, and a scene there made his eyes widen.

Berwald. His fiancé was outside, trudging through the soft snow (that was exceedingly weird for late November), up the way towards Alfred's apartment block. Then the Swede stiffened as if a electric current had run through him. Tino pressed a hand to his mouth in order not to let loose the scream that was coming up.

How did he explain this? Berwald had told him 2 years ago that he knew where Tino was at all times. It was just a hunch, he said. Said hunch was proven when Tino was late coming home from work and forgot to call Berwald when he stopped at Eduard's house. Eduard just about shrieked the whole place down when the door opened and there was Tino's fiancé, in his patented glaring glory. Tino honestly didn't blame him, Berwald scared him senseless on occasion.

But this time was different.

This time, Berwald stopped, and looked up at the exact place Tino was. Exactly. He saw the evil smirk, so unlike him, on Berwald's face. He saw the Swede triumphantly place his hands on his hips. Tino actually screamed at this. Why? Because there in a holster no doubt borrowed from Vash, their Swiss landlord, was a Beretta 92. A gun. Tino heard Alfred running towards the bathroom. He pulled the towel closer against him as the bathroom door burst open.

"Tino! Are you okay? What's wrong?" the American yelled, dropping down to wrap his arms around the shaking Finn's shoulders. "Berwald….there….gun…me…help." the Finn babbled, pointing frantically downwards. Alfred glanced down and froze. Who was that? Why was Tino so scared of him? Wait a minute.

The message on Tino's phone.

The "Tino, please come home, I need to explain. -Berwald".

Whoever this "Berwald" guy was, Tino didn't want to see him. He looked like he could be distantly related to Tino, give or take a few cousins. Like five cousins, twice removed. Maybe then.

Alfred ground his teeth. The dude down there had a gun. "Get dressed, Tino. Now." the American hissed, still staring at the man down below him. Tino nodded and went, with the clothes Alfred lent him, into the bedroom across the hall to change. Alfred skidded out the bathroom and took off down the hall. He slammed against the door, locking it tightly, and pushing up the kitchen table against it. Little protection never hurt anyone.

He raced down the hall back to the bedroom. Tino had just finished putting on the clothes when Alfred raced in, wrapping an arm around Tino's waist and shoving them both into the monstrous closet to the right. Alfred locked that too. There in the dark, the American and the Finn sat, tucked underneath a heavy pile of winter blankets, the American's arm still around Tino's waist.

Alfred's face burrowed into Tino's hair. "Lavender." he thought to himself, momentarily surprised, but then allowed a faint chuckle to stir the silence. "You used the lavender shampoo?" he asked Tino. Said Finn looked up at him through those beautiful pale eyelashes of his and replied. "Yes….?" in a soft, cute voice. Alfred felt all the blood in his body go down to his…Florida. He cleared his throat. "Nothing's wrong, it's just….that's my brother's girlfriend's shampoo. I think it smells nice. Mine is in that huge white container." Tino face-palmed.

He…had used a girl's shampoo. If he wasn't girly looking enough as it was.

At that moment, when Alfred was going to apologize for embarrassing him, the door to the apartment began to rattle. Tino burrowed into Alfred's shirt and stayed there, quivering violently like the time Mr. Kirkland had given him a plate of "scones" for a reward. Even though the Finn's stomach was made of steel, he still had a hard time not throwing the stuff-no, he was not calling those horrible things FOOD-back up.

They then heard silence, and then the unmistakable sound of a door unlocking.

"T'no? Yoo h're?" the unmistakable voice of the Swede called out. The couple in the closet held their breath. For a minute it seemed like Berwald would then leave.

However, they heard pounding footsteps coming closer and closer to the bedroom.

Where the two were hiding.

Crap.

-OOOOH. CLIFFY.-

HIYA! Sorry it took a long time to write this, I had a lot to do. Please review if you want to!

HAPPY THANKSGVING! (25 minutes early!)

Hasta la Pasta!