Finally! This chapter was such a pain to write. And yes, I FINALLY got some GerIta into this chapter. And for those of you who are wondering, I've not just given up on the PruAus idea, I'm still continuing it in the next chapter. People, REVIEW PLEASE! I know I'm pretty late to write this one, but I promise I'll update faster if you REVIEW! Um, yeah, that's it. Here's the chapter!

"Gil!" cried a voice from behind me, and I spun around to see an impressed-looking Arthur and an excited Alfred, who was waving at me. I sprinted over to them.

"What the bloody hell happened to you?" asked Arthur in disbelief.

"Francis and Feliks dragged me over to Tonio's house for a makeover. I think it looks awesome!" I protested, pretending to be hurt.

"It does," said Arthur, rolling his eyes. "I just can't believe you actually went for a makeover."

"He's just jealous," grinned Alfred, flinging his arm over my shoulders and steering me towards the canteen. "It looks totally badass, dude! How'd you change your eyes, though?"

"Contacts," I replied. "Hey, look at this." I took one contact out and kept the other in. "I'm on crack!" We both burst out laughing, and Arthur sighed.

"You two won't ever grow up, will you?"

"NEVER!" we shouted together, laughing.

We reached the canteen, and from the people staring at us as we walked past I realised that I must look really different. We reached the table, and I chucked my bags onto the floor next to my seat, and felt the stares of the entire table boring into me.

"Christ, guys, take a picture, why don't you," I grinned, and they all smiled back.

"So, while you were off getting your nails painted, did you remember to study for the exam in Maths today?" asked Arthur, raising an eyebrow.

"Shit!" I cried. "Oh, Swenson's gonna kill me if I fail this. Kiku, do you have your notes with you?"

Kiku sighed, and reached into his bag for a sheaf of neatly prepared math notes. He pulled them out, and handed them to me.

"Kiku, you are the best. I promise, I'll let you use all of my history notes whenever you need them, thanks," I said, while Kiku smiled gratefully.

I was the best in our year at History. I knew more facts than Mr Byrne did without trying, and I researched everything that took my interest, and could recite facts off the top of my head. History was awesome! My parents thought it was a dead-end subject, no use at all, but I loved it. Battles, wars, unions, death, countries… it was awesome. Especially Prussian history. I could write a book of all the things I knew about Prussian history.

I crammed for the entire break, and walked into math, confident. We were handed out our exams, and I opened the paper. At this exact moment, my brain conked out, and everything I had just memorised flew out the window. I guessed my way through most of the questions, occasionally coming across one I knew the answer to, and handed in the test at the end of the lesson, smiling to cover up the fact that I had probably done the worst in the whole class.

"So, how'd you do?" asked Antonio at the end of the lesson, as we both walked out of the room.

"I'm hoping that he'll fall horribly ill for the rest of the term, and forget to mark them, because I just got an F," I groaned.

"Well, never mind," smiled Antonio, patting me on the back. "It's not like you want to do math in college, or anything. Lovi!" he beamed, spotting his boyfriend across the hall, who turned around and smiled shyly back at him. Antonio dashed over to where Lovi was standing, pulling him into a huge hug, practically crushing the Italian. I grinned as Lovi yelled at Antonio ("You could have broken my arm, bastard!") and Francis appeared by my side.

"So, mon amie, we have our first two lovebirds together now, so who should we hook up next?" asked Francis, eyes narrowed flirtily. "Angleterre et Amérique?"

"Hmm," I said, thinking. "Sounds good, but hold it. I'm still trying to convince my totally unawesome, lovestruck little brother that Feli likes him back. I swear, he's driving me up the wall. You know what I found yesterday? He'd written Feliciano all over his English book, in all different styles and colours."

"Aww, zey are tres adorable," smirked Francis.

"Hey! Gillian!" called a voice from behind me. I spun around to see Yao sprinting towards me at top speed, before she crashed into me and we both landed on the floor.

"Yao!" I yelled. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, I kind-of miscalculated that," she apologised, pulling me up. "It's just- It's-," she panted, obviously out of breath. I sat her down, and Francis wandered off to find Arthur, bored. Yao looked up after Francis had gone, having regained her breath.

"Gil… I don't get it…," she said, frowning.

"What is it?"

"Well, this morning Kiku and I, and Im Yong and Kaoru and Mi Cha," I grinned at how big the Asian girl's family were, with all her siblings. She had another brother and sister but I didn't know them. "We were all in the car driving to school, and when we got out, stupid Marco came along and started flirting with me, like he usually does, aru. But a minute later Ivan came along, and asked me to come and walk with him, practically ignoring Marco. I was pleased, because I hate Marco, and Ivan asked me what Marco was doing. And I said 'being an idiot', and Ivan nodded. But I just saw them in the corridor, and Ivan was holding Marco in the air by the front of his shirt, and I heard him say, 'leave Yao alone, da?' in this really scary voice, and Marco just nodded, whimpering. Then Ivan let go of him, and he ran off, aru," Yao confided, her voice a monotone.

I nodded, and she continued. "But, why? Why does Ivan care?" Her face was one of pure confusion. Being the, um, kind of person I am, I automatically went for the matchmaker's answer; "He likes you."

"What?"

"Yeah," I said slowly, quietly, finally putting the pieces together, recalling all the memories that supported my theory.

A party. Ivan sits at the other side of the room, alone. Yao appears and pulls him up to the dance floor with her, and the two dance together, smiling.

The day Yao broke up with Keith. Ivan sits next to her at lunch, speaking softly to her, and stroking her hair in a way unusual for the tall Russian.

Valentine's day. The Hello Kitty chocolates. They must have been from Ivan…

"He loves you. It's all so obvious now, Yao! Awesome! Ivan loves you!" I grinned, and Yao looked at me, baffled.

"But… no. That can't be right, aru," she said, shaking her head. "I-,"

"Do you love him?" I interrupted.

"Well," said Yao slowly. "That's a big question, aru. I- I don't know. I love it when he smiles." She broke off, smiling herself as she pictured it. "He has a beautiful smile, all innocent and happy. And I love it when he talks. He has the sweetest voice when he talks to me, soft and kind. I hang out with him a lot, aru, and we talk about everything. He knows so much about me, almost as much as you. I don't know. Maybe I do love him." She rubbed her forehead angrily. "It's so… complicated."

"I know," I smiled sympathetically. "But Yao… He loves you! You have to do something!"

She frowned. "I- I'll think about it. Come on, let's get to lunch." She stood up and walked off, stony silent. I jogged next to her, chatting, but she was locked in her own little world, which happened every time she thought hard about something. Eventually we reached the table and Yao sat down. Ivan reached the table next, and sat down where he always sat, next to Yao, who jumped as he spoke to her.

"Yao, are you okay?" he asked, and I could see what she meant about his voice. It was soft, every word gentle, like he thought he would hurt her if he spoke too loud. I was a surprisingly thoughtful move for the usually terrifying Russian.

"Huh? Oh, I-I'm f-fine, aru," Yao stammered. "Um… Hey, Arthur, did we have homework for Chemistry class? I, um, wasn't paying attention, aru."

This was possibly the stupidest way to get out of talking to Ivan that Yao could have chosen. Everyone knew that she hated Arthur, and that she paid full attention in all classes. To pull attention away from my friend, I spoke up.

"Hey, where's bruder gone?" I asked, noticing that neither West nor Feli were at the table.

"Oh, I haven't seen him or Feli since last period," piped up Matthew from next to Alfred, who almost had a freaking heart attack before he noticed it was just his brother, and not a ghost.

"Thanks," I said, standing up and pulling my bag back over my shoulder.

"Huh? Gil, you just came!" said Antonio, surprised.

"I know, but I have a feeling West'll need my help soon." With that said, I walked quickly out of the canteen, off to find my baby brother, and make sure he didn't chicken out.

I walked down the hall before I heard Ludwig's voice outside. I peeked out through the window and saw him and Feli eating lunch together on the picnic benches. I sneaked out and hid behind a bush, watching them chatting together.

"Feli," said West, fidgeting.

"Yes Doitsu?" said Feli innocently, smiling happily.

"I- I'm really bad at this kind of stuff, so if this comes out wrong, please forgive me."

Hurry up, West! I thought. If I go into German smelling of hedges and grass, Miss Eisenberg will know something's up…

"What is it? You know you can tell me anything, ve?"

"I- I love you."

West! I almost yelled inside my head. That was stupid! God, you really should have thought this out before, shouldn't you?

"How much?"

The Italian asked the question perfectly matter-of-fact, like he had been expecting Ludwig to say something of the sort. Ludwig looked taken aback.

"What?"

"I need to know. I love Doitsu more than he'll ever know, but I need to know if Doitsu loves me like that too." Feliciano's eyes were big now, trusting and sincere, looking at my brother unblinkingly.

"More than anything," stuttered West, unable to drag his eyes away from Feli's.

"Good," smiled Feli, leaning forward, and the space between them closed.

This should have grossed me out a bit, but hey, my best friend kisses every girl close to him, and my other best friend can barely pull his lips away from his boyfriend long enough to talk to me, so I guess I was used to it.

West sat, shocked for a second, but just as Feli started to pull away, he stretched out his arms, circling them around the tiny Italian, pulling him closer and kissing him back with twice as much force. Feli's hands went straight for West's hair, tangling them in it, messing up the blonde locks as he clutched West closer to himself. They sat like that for a while, Feli practically straddling Ludwig, before West pulled away, breathing quickly.

"Ti amo, Ludwig," said Feli, pressing his forehead against West's, still keeping eye contact.

"Ich liebe dich, Feliciano, mein libeling," whispered West, smiling, slipping his hand into Feli's. They both stood up and walked away, still smiling.

West, now I know where I get my awesomeness from, I though, grinning. Maybe we are related…

You know the ritual. Read, think, review…