Gilbert ducked around a corner just before the shots began to rain down upon his area. These bastards sure were fierce today, and most of them were above his rank. Too bad for them, because even if he's a lower rank, he's still the most awesome soldier out there. They don't believe it, so he'll just have to prove it to them. He quickly dashed from his hiding spot and ran into a nearby building. But, holy shit! Just as he ran inside, a couple of the enemies almost bumped into him. Good thing he knows exactly how to react.

"Die, bitches!" Gilbert shouted, and unloaded his gun on the helpless souls.

Suddenly, a smoke grenade clouded his sight. Fuck, I need to get out of here, he thought, quickly scurrying around the room. Before he had time to escape, the dreadful sting of a knife pierced him in the chest. He immediately reacted by randomly firing around the area, killing the perpetrator. Good thing he didn't get stabbed twice, he would've been dead and the fate of the world would have been decided. His fellow soldiers needed him, so he ran as quickly as he could to their location.

Gilbert could see them straight ahead! So now all he needed to do was sprint, continue sprinting and he'd be by their sides in the name of combat. He was almost there when a stealthy enemy caught sight of him, and fired. His stupid health was still halfway down, so that ended him right then and there. Such a shame, too, because he had survived for so long and the battle was almost over! His killing spree had also taken its toll.

"What? No, that's bullshit!" he yelled, slamming the controller down.

"Gilbert, will you please stop yelling at the TV?" Elizaveta said, when she walked into the living room.

Gilbert rolled his eyes and backed out of the game. Well there goes his chance of getting the trophy for being undefeated an entire match. And yet, he was just so close! Those bastards could suck his wurst, for all he cared. That game was stupid anyways, and its community was filled with cheaters and noobs.

"You've been playing that all night again, huh?" she asked.

The immediate silence that followed after gave her the answer. It should've been expected, since he usually did that. But, today was different. He should have known better to go to bed earlier than usual, so that they can spend the day together. Well, the afternoon and evening since she had work. If he had forgotten what day it was, she didn't know whether to strangle him or simply walk out.

"You don't understand my tactics. It's vital that I get this stupid trophy," Gilbert answered, and began searching for another match.

"Whatever. So, where are you taking me tonight?"

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Tonight was the premiere of that awesome new comedy! There was no way he was going to miss it. After all, he had been waiting for it to come out for weeks. There was no reason to go out anywhere, so why did she want to?

"We are going out, right?" she continued to pester him.

"Why? There's something I wanted to see tonight. Wherever it is you wanted to go to, I can always take you tomorrow night."

"Oh, nothing. I just thought it was appropriate to go out on our damn two year anniversary."

She snapped. And Gilbert had expected his neck to snap, too. But, she didn't move from wherever she was, he really didn't know because his face was glued to the TV. This was probably the worst time to screw up. He seriously had no idea it was their anniversary, who keeps track of stuff like that? Okay so everyone does, but still! He didn't mean to forget, it should've been written on the calendar or something.

"Well, yeah but… I was thinking! We should stay here and enjoy each other's company," he suggested, trying to cover up his huge mistake.

"And what would we do?"

Gilbert sure had a lot of ideas of what they'd do together. They would all have to wait until he finished watching the premiere, but they were sexy ideas indeed. Maybe tonight would be the night she finally gave in! After all, it'd been many months since he last got any action from her and tonight would be a great opportunity. It was their anniversary, so it's only natural that's what they would do!

"Well, what would we do if we'd go out?" he said.

"I want to get dinner at that fancy French restaurant. That's the only place that serves the most quality wine that I like."

They sure weren't cheap, though. Who cares about fancy wine when you can chug a bunch of cheap beer at home, comfortably?

"I miss the days where 'going out' meant going to the arcade and kicking each other's asses at Dance Dance Revolution. And when we got too old for that, we'd go out to the bar with the guys."

"Idiot, that's called high school and college. But, whatever. We don't have to go anywhere," she sighed and began to walk off.

"Wait, we'll go! I'll take ya anywhere you'd like. Just, smile. Okay?" Gilbert figured it would be easier to submit than to ruin his chances by upsetting the prize.

"Fine… but, wear something nice!"

Lovino nervously paced back and forth in front of the stairs that led to the second floor of his home. Stupid Feli, always taking forever to get ready, he thought to himself. He seriously needed to give that airhead a nice lecture before he would be off on his way to a party. It was a nice Friday night, and Lovino wished he had some friends to be invited to a party by. But, he'd much rather go to a classy party with attractive women, instead of some crazy college party. And that's exactly why he needed to set down the rules to his younger brother.

"Finally, what the hell took you so long?" he said, when Feliciano finally appeared.

"I was looking for my house key, can you believe it was in the tub?" Feliciano giggled, and headed towards the front door.

"Wait! I haven't told you the damn rules yet." Lovino quickly grabbed his brother's arm and whirled him around.

"Alright, first thing's first. Do not drink anything that anyone gives you. Anyone! And, don't smoke, either. I'll kick your ass if you come back smelling like cigarettes. If you see anyone with drugs, get the fuck out of there. Lastly, if you do decide to drink, only have one! Drunk driving is such a shitty move, you'll get busted before you know it. You know what? No, just don't drink at all."

Lovino finished explaining the rules so fast that Feliciano hardly understood any of what was being said. It was nice that his brother cared for his safety, but none of that was even going to happen.

"But, it's just a small get together. At most, there will be about 15 of us there! Luddy and Kiku are going, too. It is really just a gathering for us art students, I promise!" Feliciano whined, when Lovino wouldn't let go of his arm.

"I don't give a shit who is going to be there. Just remember those rules, you should be able to since you're not too far from graduating."

"Okay, okay. It's so sweet of you to worry so much! But, you know you don't have to," Feliciano smiled and tightly hugged Lovino.

"Whatever! I'm just trying to help you, as the mature adult that I am! Now, get the hell out of here."

Lovino waved goodbye as Feliciano darted out of the front door. Finally, another peaceful Friday night alone, sitting at home with nothing to do and no one to be with. Not that it mattered, he could always watch TV or call up one of his buddies! If he didn't want to deal with anyone right then, all he had to do was quietly read a book and enjoy some relaxing music. That was the life, not having to deal with people who had too much damn energy for their own good.

He plopped down onto the couch and snuggled against the pillow. This was almost comfortable enough to be sinful. He reached for his little novel on the coffee table and opened it up. It was getting to the good part, where the two main characters finally admit their love for each other. This book was so corny and shitty, and he loved it so much. Lovino was actually envious, because stories like these don't usually happen in reality. Just reading about it made him feel depressed, but that feeling of desire kept him going from page to page.

"Stupid bastard, you don't know how lucky you are," he said, cursing at the man in the book.

If he and Gilbert were in a love story together, he'd definitely confess his love the first chance he got. The longer the wait, the more complicated things would get. Who cares about plot and development, he'd immediately take Gilbert on in the first damn scene! Yeah, he'd have that crimson-eyed bastard falling head over heels for him. Lovino the prince, and Gilbert the idiot. That jerk would be swooning over him every time. He'd give Gilbert just what he wanted, and have him screaming his name all day, every day -

Suddenly, the doorbell rang before Lovino's imagination could become any more perverted and deranged. Damn whoever is at the door, damn them to hell. He was so comfortable, lying on the soft couch and shamelessly fantasizing to his heart's content! Maybe they would go away once he didn't answer. If only they had, but the bastard kept on pushing the doorbell as if they were trying to make a beat now.

"Hold on, dammit!" he yelled, getting up from his comfortable position and moving towards the door.

When he finally turned the knob to open it, the door suddenly came swinging open and the intruder forced themself on him. Their arms quickly wrapped around Lovino's body, pulling him into a tight squeeze and their lips gently plastered themselves against his into a passionate kiss. He had to admit, it was the most wonderful kiss he'd ever received.

"Gilbert… w-what the hell was that for?" he somehow managed to say, as he stared into the beautiful eyes belonging to that person.

"I've always wanted to do that. And, Lovino… I love you, more than anyone else in this whole fucking miserable world." Gilbert smiled and lifted Lovino off of his feet.

"G-gilbert…" Lovino, who was basically still speechless, smiled and leaned against Gilbert's chest as he was being carried to the bedroom.

"Hello? Lovi, come back to Earth!" Gilbert said, waving his hand in front of Lovino's blank face.

"Huh? Oh…"

Well, that was embarrassing as fuck. It seems Lovino's brain could no longer distinguish between corny fantasy and reality. He had seriously been daydreaming the entire time as Gilbert stood there in confusion. His face instantly began to heat up from this realization, as he stood there in the doorway. Now he wanted to burn that stupid romance novel in the fireplace for tainting his mind.

"What the fuck are you doing here, anyway?" Lovino asked, as he let Gilbert inside and closed the door.

"I had a long day. Like, a seriously long ass day." Gilbert walked over to the dining room table and plopped down into a chair.

"So? What does that have to do with me?" Lovino joined him at the table and began to feel irritated already.

"Nothing, actually."

They sat there in silence for a short while as Lovino casually sipped from his glass of ice tea and Gilbert played with a spoon. It was nice that he wasn't alone anymore, but Lovino wondered why the hell he had decided to visit now, of all times. He also noticed that Gilbert seemed distressed.

"Lovi, am I attractive?" Gilbert suddenly asked.

"W-what? What the hell are you saying!" Lovino felt flustered beyond belief as he tried to think up an answer to that insane question.

"That's what I was thinking! Of course I'm fucking attractive. Yet, Liz won't have sex with me. In fact, we haven't done it in months! Impossible with my awesome body, right?" Gilbert said, frowning down towards the table.

"Huh?" Lovino almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. His panicking face turned into a deep scowl.

"Today was our anniversary. I took her out to dinner, and she flipped at me when I wasn't really paying much attention to what she was saying. And… I kinda flipped at her for yelling at me. The rest of the evening was alright, but she went to bed early, and told me to fuck off when I touched her!"

An exasperated sigh came out of Lovino's mouth as he tried his hardest to resist reaching across the table to strangle Gilbert to death.

"I thought you said you wouldn't fucking come to me for stupid shit like this! I don't give a fuck about your stupid sex life."

"Who said that was the only reason I was here? What if I just wanted to see you?" Gilbert said, and teasingly winked.

"Yeah, you just wanted to see me two hours before midnight." Lovino sarcastically rolled his eyes.

"Yup! Anytime, anywhere."

Lovino blushed and looked away to avoid those teasing eyes. Damn him for being such a damn tease. He was definitely doing it on purpose, as if he knew how Lovino felt. He just had to be doing it on purpose, there's no other explanation!

"Hey… let's go out."

As if his heart wasn't tight enough, now it began to race and Lovino could've sworn it would have popped out in any second.

"What d-do you mean? B-but… we can't!"

"Why can't we? I'm bored, so the only thing left to do is a night out on the town."

Oh, so that's what he meant by that. Lovino didn't know whether to be relieved or insulted. Maybe disappointed? No, he shouldn't feel anything, because even if Gilbert and Elizaveta are currently fighting, they're still together.

"I don't feel like it. But, you're welcome to leave any time you want," Lovino said, as his usual pout took over his face.

"Aw, c'mon. It's Friday night! You're sitting here alone, looking depressed. What's wrong with having a little fun?"

"I'm not fucking depressed! I'm sitting here because I'm waiting for Feli to get back from a stupid party." Lovino crossed his arms on his chest and hoped that time would go by much faster.

"He's 21 years old now. And you're 23, going on 50! Loosen up, you're not his parent so who cares?" Gilbert continued to prod in a voice of reason that Lovino just couldn't resist.

"Fine! Just shut the hell up. We'll go out for a quick drive, I feel like having something sweet anyways."

Lovino grabbed his keys and they hopped into his car. Gilbert's mood seem to have been lifted once they were cruising on the road, and that made Lovino feel a bit at ease. He really hated to see any expression on Gilbert's face that wasn't happy. Though, he'd never admit this because he never really had happy expressions on his own face. As they drove, he couldn't help but sneak a glance over to Gilbert at every chance he got. It was a surprise how they didn't crash into anything.

They finally arrived near the pastry shop that was Lovino's favorite. Since it was in a small but very busy part of the city, Lovino had to park a short ways away from the shop. He didn't mind walking the rest of they way, since it meant more time to spend with Gilbert, who had been talking about a number of strange things the entire time.

"Hey, Gilbert!" someone called out, as they walked down the sidewalk.

Gilbert turned around and smiled at an older looking man not too far from where they stood. "Oh, hey!"

Lovino impatiently waited as Gilbert went over to the man and began speaking to him. They were speaking in German, and Lovino assumed the man wasn't all too experienced in English. After a minute, the man walked away and Gilbert rejoined Lovino as they began to walk again.

"Who the hell was that?" he asked.

"Oh, that's someone I know. I wouldn't have passed some of my college courses back then, if it weren't for him!"

"Oh. What were you talking about? German is such a fucking weird language, I don't understand any of that shit."

Gilbert laughed and gently nudged Lovino in the side. "Then, you should learn it!"

"Yeah, right. Maybe you should learn Italian," Lovino snorted.

"I do know Italian!"

"Oh? Prove it." Lovino turned and faced Gilbert. Well, this should be amusing.

Gilbert thought for a second before smiling. He lifted up his arm and pointed a finger at Lovino.

"Mio amore."

Lovino stuttered for a few seconds before hitting Gilbert in the arm, which had no effect since he was too flustered to put any actual strength into it.

"Bastard! Don't just… say things without knowing the meaning of it! You probably just stole that from a fucking soap opera." Lovino puffed his cheeks and quickly walked up to the shop. Gilbert sure did suck at speaking Italian.

"What the hell are those?" Gilbert asked, pointing to the small cookies as they stood before the vast amount of sweets.

"Pignoli. They're good, want a couple?"

"Yeah, and some hot cocoa! It's surprisingly cold outside."

"Fine, and you better drink all of it." Lovino ordered the little snacks and took out his wallet to pay the expenses.

"Let me pay for it, since I suggested we hang out tonight," Gilbert said.

"Don't be a stupid ass, I know you spent a crap load of money at that fancy restaurant earlier."

Well, can't argue with that. Gilbert quickly shut up and accepted this kind offering as they walked out of the shop. They walked down the block to the empty park and sat down on the grass to stare up at the sky. Besides the hill on the other side of town, this was the only other spot to actually see the stars. The city was always so bright and loud, it seemed to have completely scared the stars away.

"Shit! That's hot," Gilbert yelped, when he took a big gulp of the hot cocoa.

"Idiot, you should've expected that! You're supposed to do this." Lovino leaned forward and slowly breathed towards to hot steam to cool the liquid off a little.

"Oh… yeah, I just forgot is all," Gilbert said, blushing from how close Lovino had suddenly gotten.

"So, what time do you have to be back? It's just about midnight now. Won't Liz be angry?"

Gilbert sighed and thought for a second, before saying that she might not have even noticed he had left. This short conversation somehow turned into a one-sided rant as Gilbert continued to complain about everything in his relationship. Normally, Lovino intently listened and scolded him if the problem had been his fault, but now he didn't really want to listen to it. Lately, it had just gotten too painful to listen to Gilbert's senseless ramblings.

"If you're so damn miserable, then why are you still with her?" Lovino said, but he hadn't meant to say it out loud.

Gilbert thought for a second, then replied. "It's not that I'm miserable, because I'm not. She's fun to be around, sometimes… I just miss how things used to be. Back in school, she never really took much offence to what I said or did. In fact, she was much worse than me with that stuff. But now, even the slightest things send her over the edge."

"That's because you guys were friends. Now, you have other responsibilities as a boyfriend. That's obvious."

"It's not just that, though. It's more, much more. Too complicated to explain."

"How is it complicated? If you're happy, then you're happy. If you're unhappy, then you are fucking unhappy! It doesn't take rocket science to figure out that much. And, you're always complaining about it, so why not fix it and shut the hell up?" Lovino snapped.

"Well fuck. I don't expect you to understand a thing, since you don't even have anyone and-" Gilbert tried to catch himself before he caused the legendary avalanche of Lovino's rage, but it had slipped out. Surprisingly, the scowl on Lovino's face didn't grow any fiercer. Instead, it turned into a frown that Lovino always wore whenever he was deeply hurt.

"Uh, look. I didn't mean to say it like that."

"No, shut up. You're right, I don't actually know what it's like or how you feel. And, I don't want to know. Relationships are such hard work and they always fuck up, they suck."

The darkening expression on Lovino's face failed to change even as he continued to eat his cookie. Gilbert tried to think of something, since he seriously hated that expression whenever he saw it.

"They're not all bad. In fact, they're great if you know how to manage them," he said, as he scooted a little closer to Lovino. "And, I'm sorry for always mindlessly ranting about shit to you. You know, you can always do the same to me."

"What would I possibly have to complain about? I don't waste my time on stupid things like love, and even if I did, no one would possibly love me back." Lovino's voice slightly cracked as he clutched at the small bag in his hands.

"Hey now, that's not true! Everyone has a shot at love, and I'm pretty sure everyone has someone out there that they are meant to be together with. Yeah, I know that sounds corny as hell but it has to be true."

Lovino continued to stare down at the grass beneath him. He'd heard that bullshit over and over again from different people all his life. All this junk about love being mysterious and that everyone has someone, it was all lies to make people feel better. What's the point of making yourself feel better when you know it's all lies, anyway?

"Lovi, look at me." Gilbert gently lifted Lovino's chin up towards him. "I meant what I said. You're a pretty lovable person, even if you are very rough around the edges. But, who doesn't like it rough?" he chuckled.

"S-shut up… if I'm rough, then you're a fucking canyon," Lovino blushed, as he kept his frown and tried to look away.

"Yeah, yeah. An awesome canyon. But, like I was saying, there is someone out there that cares for you, and loves you more than anyone else in the entire world."

"Bullshit."

"Not at all. And who knows, that person might even be closer than you think," Gilbert smiled, and carelessly ran his fingers through Lovino's hair.

No further words came from Lovino's mouth, as he continued to stare up into the gleaming red jewels. Gilbert silently chuckled to himself as he continued to play in Lovino's hair, hardly even noticing the face that was getting closer to his, each second that passed. Somewhere in the back of Lovino's mind, a voice was screaming at him to stop, but he couldn't. This was something he had wanted to do for so long, and the time was right. This was the perfect moment, and it seemed that Gilbert had finally taken notice of the situation. His red eyes widened, but he didn't move or back away. It seemed as if he was also getting closer now. All Lovino had to do now was -

"Gilbert," he suddenly said, as he had forced all the strength in his body to turn away. He stared at the ground for a split second before standing up.

"I… we can't be friends anymore."

Gilbert stared up at him in confusion and nervously began to laugh. "What are you talking about?"

"We can't! This is wrong… and, whenever I'm around you, I can't fucking restrain myself so it's better this way." Lovino did his best to hold in the tears that stung his eyes within, and quickly walked off.

"Wait, Lovi! What the fuck is going on? I don't understand!" Gilbert quickly followed behind, his mind shivering in fear from the words Lovino had said to him.

"You don't have to understand, dammit! Just… I'm sorry, bye."

He did the right thing, he had to do it! Lovino didn't want to imagine himself as a homewrecker. He didn't want to be the cause of a conflict between his special person and his friend. If everyone has a shot at love, then he definitely needs to look elsewhere because Gilbert is completely off-limits. He'd have to be the biggest bastard in the world to do something as reckless as what he was about to do. And well, he didn't want to be one, so he quickly drove back home, alone. He paid no attention to the tear stains on his face and he was glad to see that Feliciano wasn't home when he got back.

Elizaveta angrily paced back and forth in the living room. It was the third day in a row that Gilbert had gone out drinking by himself for so many hours at a time. She figured it was because of their screwed up anniversary, since that night he came back and retreated into the basement where he had been for the past couple days. If he was seriously that depressed over not getting any action, then it wasn't her fault he was so sex deprived! She even tried to help by offering to go on a group trip with a few friends to an island that was only a few hours away. Maybe then she would've let him have what he wanted. But, he bluntly refused and went back to the basement.

Finally, the door clicked open and Gilbert lazily walked in. He wasn't drunk this time, but he still had dark marks under his eyes and his skin was paler than ever.

"Out drinking again? Seriously?" she said, as she approached him.

Gilbert only shrugged and took off his jacket, failing to hang it up on the coat rack correctly.

"You won't even tell me what's wrong. As if that isn't infuriating enough, we missed the damn trip because of you!"

"I'm sorry. And, I thought you would go without me," he answered weakly.

"It's a couples trip. Why would I go alone when everyone else is with their partner?"

"Look, I said I was sorry. I just didn't feel like going somewhere and having fun, pretending to be so fucking happy when I'm not."

"Maybe if you actually told me why you have been such a depressing dark blob these past few days, then I would've been able to fix the problem! It's called communication, god dammit. We seem to lack that the most!"

As out of it as Gilbert was, he could still tell she was pissed off. But, it wasn't the type of anger that she usually had. It was a mixture of anger, frustration, and betrayal. She felt that Gilbert didn't trust her enough anymore, to tell her about his problems. He couldn't even explain what the problem was, though. Lovino had randomly broken off their friendship and left. They had been friends for almost fifteen years, and now Lovino wouldn't answer his calls nor his messages. For some reason, he couldn't tell her about it. Perhaps he didn't just feel like he lost one of his best friends, but also apart of himself and something much more.

"I'm sorry I ruined your happiness," Gilbert suddenly said.

"What? That's a bit… overdramatic, don't you think? I really, really wanted to go on this trip but it's not a life or death situation," Elizaveta responded, once she had calmed down a little.

"It's not just about the trip. It's about everything. There's always things you want to do, but I completely ignore them or complain. So, I'm sorry about that."

"That's true. But, sometimes there are things you want to do that I also complain about. I suppose every relationship has problems like that sometimes." Elizaveta shrugged to herself and wondered how the hell they had lasted for two entire years now.

"But, we never have a solution. Just problems that pile up, one on top of the other."

She had to admit, Gilbert was certainly right about that. Whenever they got into a quarrel, the anger on both sides would die out from anywhere between a day and a few weeks. But, it was almost pointless because they never sat down to discuss the problems, and a new problem would already arise to the surface by then.

"I want you to be happy, you deserve it. But, to do that, I know I'd only end up hurting you first." Gilbert sighed and looked her in the eyes.

"What are you saying? You're not even making much sense anymore more," she said. This was probably the most serious she'd seen him in over a year.

"I've slept with someone else."

Lovino watched as Feliciano struggled to get some of his art things together. He was right on his way to Kiku's studio apartment to work on a group art project, but he didn't really want to leave. He knew something was definitely wrong with his older brother, but Lovino wouldn't tell him for some reason. Usually, he would tell him everything when he felt like it, but now he was starting to pretend as if it was nothing.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"

"Just go, this project is important and the deadline is soon, right? So get the fuck out of here," Lovino grumbled.

"But!"

"No buts! I'm fine, for the 500th damn time."

"Then, why are you still crying?"

Lovino winced and wiped the stray tear that had somehow escaped his puffy eyes. Damn, and he had worked so hard to get all of his crying out the first day! And now it was two days later, yet his stupid emotions continued to screw him over. At least Feliciano only smiled sympathetically and hugged him this time.

"I'll be back as soon as we finish! This will most likely be an all-nighter," Feliciano said, and left the home.

As soon as the door closed, Lovino could feel the rest of the unshed tears escape from his hazel eyes. What the hell have I done? This thought went through his head hundreds of times a day. He had seriously told Gilbert that they shouldn't be friends anymore. The very person he'd been friends with since forever, and the very person he'd learned so much from. He hadn't thought about what he would tell Francis and Antonio until now. When one of them proposed that they should all get together, Lovino would have to find an excuse not to go because he knew Gilbert would be there.

"God dammit!" He cursed through his tears. Now things would be just as they were after he and Gilbert had slept together. Only this time the awkwardness would be far worse, even though they hadn't really done anything, he basically semi-confessed his actual feelings a couple nights before when he ran off.

Lovino heard the doorbell ring as he tried his best to quiet his sobs. He looked on the table and saw that Feliciano had forgotten his stupid house key again and had now come back to get it, since he'd only left about five minutes before. He picked up the key and tightly clutched it. Perhaps he'd stab it in Feliciano's stomach to teach him a lesson. He wiped all of his tears from his trembling face and opened the door.

"Stupid ass, I told you -" But when he looked up, he was surprised to see an albino man with the most distressed look on his face.

"Gilbert?"

A/N: Feliciano is always going out and about.. but yeah! I took a little break. I'll update the other story next time.