A/N: Hi! Sorry this took so long to come out, but I'm feeling kinda better now. So please enjoy, and thanks to all those still reading this and my special buddy for her kind words!

The wonderful aroma of something cooking dragged Lovino out of his comfortable bed and out into the hallway. He could already hear Feliciano and Gilbert chatting downstairs, which made him feel a little happy for some reason. He really enjoyed having Gilbert stay there with them, no matter how much he tried to say otherwise. It was as if the three of them were a family now, except the couple of times that Ludwig came over and tried to drag Gilbert back home with him, assuming he was only causing troubles for the two Italians. Lovino successfully made up an excuse as to why Gilbert just had to stay with them, and told Ludwig to get the fuck out.

"Morning! I hope you slept well so that you won't be especially grouchy today."

Feliciano happily greeted Lovino as soon as he descended the stairway. As usual, he ignored the irritated glare that his older brother sent him.

"I'm never grouchy, shut up. So, where's the food? It smells… good."

Lovino walked past Feliciano, avoiding his hug and diving into the dining room. When he got there, Gilbert smiled at him from where he stood next to the table. Even though his stomach was growling, Lovino couldn't help but blush from that bright smile and wished it could have been the very first thing he saw that morning.

"Morning, sleeping beauty. You must've been really tired if you slept in longer than me," Gilbert said.

"Don't call me that. And of course I'm tired, it was you and Feli who wanted to hang out in the tree house all night like a bunch of damn kids. Besides, it's only ten o'clock in the morning."

Lovino quickly placed himself in a chair at the table and gazed at all of the wonderful food. All of his favorite sweet breads were there, and even things he didn't usually eat for breakfast. Along with his coffee, he hastily piled a bunch of bacon and eggs on top of everything else that was already on his plate.

"It was fun, though. You gotta admit that." Gilbert chuckled to himself at Lovino's gluttonous behavior and sat in the seat next to him, doing the same thing with his plate.

"Fun or not, I refuse to do it again," Lovino scoffed, sipping his coffee and eyeing Gilbert from the corner of his eye.

"Well, since you're awake, I guess we can eat breakfast now," Feliciano said, walking into the dining room to join them, then frowning when he saw they'd already begun. "Oh, I see you've already done that."

"Oh right, thanks for the food, Feli." Lovino nodded at his brother and picked up a piece of sweet bread to finally calm his starving stomach.

"But, I didn't make any of this. This was all being fixed when I came downstairs. So thank Gilly." Feliciano gave Gilbert a thumbs up and sat down to collect his proportion of the food before it cooled down.

"You mean, you seriously made all this?" Lovino's eyes quickly darted towards the chuckling man next to him and then back to the food. Now he was having second thoughts about eating it at all. Feliciano was always the one to make his favorite foods, so who knows what it would taste like now that it was cooked by someone else. Especially since that person was Gilbert.

"Hell yeah I did. You don't have to applaud, but it would be much appreciated."

As if he was ever going to do that. Lovino stared at the food for a short moment, contemplating if he should just get over it because his stomach felt like it was eating itself now. The spaghetti Gilbert had made only a couple weeks ago on the first day he began staying with them had been pretty good, so there should have been no reason to hesitate now.

"Well, thanks… I guess." Lovino shrugged and bit into the bread as if he hadn't been worrying the entire time. To his great surprise, it was even better than the ones Feliciano made him. Maybe even better than when he made it for himself. Just maybe.

Gilbert knew his cooking was the best, everyone else was just too stuck up to admit it. He watched, smirking to himself as Lovino began devouring the food, occasionally humming at its wonderful taste.

"You did pretty good… for a novice," Lovino teased, and washed down some of it with the remaining coffee in his favorite mug, which had a mustache design on the side.

"I'm not a novice! And I didn't do 'pretty good', I did awesomely. So you're welcome."

Lovino decided not to argue with this delusional fool, and to just enjoy his great breakfast. When all was finished and they helped one another clean the dishes and table without breaking anything, Lovino retired into the living room to watch the TV. Gilbert, of course, quickly followed after and plopped down next to him on the couch.

"So! What are we watching?" he asked, tugging at Lovino's sleeve. He was sitting pretty close, despite the fact that there were two other cushions which were empty.

"I don't know yet? And why are you sitting so closely? You've been extremely touchy-feely lately, I think you have been around Feli too much.. Stop that." Lovino sounded like a grumpy old man as Gilbert continued to pester him.

"What are you talking about? I'm not even touching you," Gilbert claimed, smirking as he nudged Lovino in the side anyway.

"Yes, you are! Now stop that, childish bastard."

Nonetheless, Lovino continued to helplessly giggle as Gilbert went on an all-out tickle attack and they teased each other back and forth for countless minutes. Such simple gestures of friendship were common things that went on everyday between them now. Whenever Lovino returned home, pissed off from work or exhausted, Gilbert always managed to find a way to make him smile, no matter the situation. It annoyed him sometimes, but Lovino was happy to have a friend like him.

"You two get along so well these days," Veneziano exclaimed, when he walked into the living room to find the other two sitting together on the couch and Gilbert's head resting on Lovino's shoulder.

"Shut up, you're just over exaggerating."

As usual, Lovino puffed out his cheeks and tried returning his attention back to the TV. Seeing as he didn't shrug Gilbert from his shoulder, that must've meant he obviously didn't mind it being there.

"I mean it! In fact, I remember about ten years ago when we were kids, you guys used to argue quite often and then Lovi would run behind Tonio when he thought you'd beat him up," he said, joining them on the couch.

Gilbert laughed at that and nodded. "I remember that, too!"

"Well I don't, so there's no reason to talk about it anymore," Lovino snarled, as his cheeks lit up from those embarrassing memories.

"You don't remember? C'mon, you've got to! You had twice the bad attitude and short temper back then, and I just loved teasing you to bring it out. It's funny because you actually thought I'd kick your ass, and Toni would get so pissed at me. He was like a mom." Gilbert continued to laugh and bring up more embarrassing events that Lovino would rather have kept hidden in the back of his mind. He wondered how Gilbert could remember so many simple and useless things from ages ago.

"I said that's enough, now shut your mouths and watch the screen!"

Gilbert sighed and finally did as he was told. "Fine, fine. I won't start talking about the time when we were still in elementary school and you spent the night at my house, wet the bed, and cried until I gave you the cookies that we weren't supposed to eat."

"I wonder how far I'll have to shove this remote up your ass to make you shut the fuck up," Lovino hissed, narrowing his eyes and considering the possibilities.

"Remember the time we—"

"Shut up, Feliciano! You're banned from the living room for the rest of the morning, goodbye."

"But, it wasn't going to be about you, I swear!" he cried.

"Then what were you going to say?"

"After Grandpa Caesar passed away, you and I didn't know what to do… then Luddy, Gilbert, Francis, and Tonio came over with all these sweet treats! And we all went out to have a picnic together, it was so fun. They really cheered us up, didn't they?"

All was silent for a few seconds as the three of them got lost in their own thoughts. Lovino really did feel grateful for all of the fun times they spent together, which dragged him out of that depression. As much as his grandfather pissed him off with that loud mouth of his, and the whole deal with supposedly favoring Feliciano, Lovino still loved Caesar with all of his heart. Even Gilbert found the old guy to be fun and hilarious.

"Oh, um… I guess they did cheer us up."

"Damn, Feli. You really shot down the mood there," Gilbert chuckled.

"I didn't mean to, and at least those are happy memories that we can all smile about!"

"Yeah, I guess so. Your grandpa was the best."

And so Gilbert went back to lazily leaning against Lovino and occasionally nudging him to get a funny reaction. Neither of them had anything to do for the day, so they settled with watching a couple episodes of some random show Gilbert picked out, which Lovino announced was the stupidest thing he'd ever watched. However, he didn't once think of changing the channel.

Suddenly, Feliciano gasped. "Oh, by the way! The art exhibit for us students is tomorrow and well, I admit I'm kind of nervous that so many people are going to be there… and, since a couple of my pieces will be on display in the front."

"Are you bragging?" Lovino asked, raising an eyebrow as he was already a little irritated.

"No, of course not. I was just hoping you two would come! You'll also be here all day tomorrow, right? So you guys can come together. And Gilbert, you really have to see Luddy's piece, too."

"Yeah, he told me about it. And, I plan to begin staying with him from today onwards. My awesome presence will definitely be there tomorrow, though."

Both Lovino and Feliciano turned their heads to him at that statement, obviously taken by surprise.

Lovino frowned deeply and shook his head. "What? Is he pressuring you to leave again? I already told the bastard that it's okay for you to stay here. It's… not troublesome at all."

"I know, but I'm the one that asked him, this time. He agreed, and so sometime today I'm packing up my things and leaving."

Feliciano instantly began whining and practically begging for him to stay. It was fun having a guest once in a while, since Lovino refused to ever let Ludwig spend the night when Feliciano asked. Sure, he had been there almost two weeks now, but every second of it was fun and Lovino liked waking up every morning to see what shit Gilbert would get him into for the day in their average little lives.

"But, why? I mean, I don't give a shit if you leave or not. You've been here long enough… but, I thought you liked it here?" Lovino asked, still glaring at the man next to him.

"I do. I love it here, obviously! I mean, I only stay at places which I find to be awesome. But, I can't keep living off you guys like some stray puppy."

"So you're going to do it to your stupid brother instead?"

"Yup. We're related, so that's different."

"Not really… besides, you've paid for a lot of things since you began staying here, so it's not like you're some damn freeloader. And… I said that you could stay as long as you wanted, remember?"

"And I have. It's been a long, fun stay. So, thanks." Gilbert laughed and gave each of them a pat on the shoulder, until he noticed the sad frown never leaving Lovino's face. "What, are you gonna miss me that much? Lovi… I'm flattered."

"No I won't! I'll be glad when your loud, annoying ass is out of here… this news just took me by surprise, that's all. You should have told me sooner, at least yesterday, bastard."

"Sure, sure. I'm sorry, I guess I should have. I only just discussed this with Luddy a couple days ago so it's not like I've been keeping it a secret or something. It's not even a big deal, you know?"

"Yeah… it's not a big deal, so it doesn't matter to me. Whatever."

Even though he said that, Lovino refused to let Gilbert use his shoulder as a pillow from then on.

"Well, since you're leaving today, I think that we should do something fun together," Feliciano suggested.

Gilbert snickered and gave him that usual mischievous grin. "So it's fun you want, huh? Mm, I know lots of different types of 'fun' we can have."

"No, you're not taking my brother to a strip club, dumb ass." Lovino was quick to interrupt before things got out of hand.

"Hey, I was only joking! Well, what did you have in mind, Feli?"

"Hm… well, what we talked about earlier made me think of going on a picnic again. It was so much fun last time, and we haven't done it in forever, literally!" he exclaimed.

"That sounds stupid and a waste of—"

"Sure! Sounds awesome, when are we going?" Gilbert asked, completely cutting Lovino off and sounding just as excited as Feliciano did.

"We should start making the lunches right now! Oh, and I'll have to bring a big blanket for us to sit on. We should go to the area by the lake, far away from town. It's much more beautiful there. Do you think it's windy outside? Can Luddy come too?"

Lovino simply sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration at all of the excitement around him, deciding he had no choice. Gilbert and Feliciano discussed all of the plans and made decisions without him, so he really didn't care anymore. It was already upsetting enough that Gilbert was seriously going to leave them this evening, and now he was going to get dragged out of town? Just perfect.

"Cheer up, Lovi. It's good to get out of the house once in a while. Especially when you're not leaving to go to work or a meeting, boring shit like that. Let's just have fun, alright?"

"Whatever. Don't expect me to enjoy it, though… because I definitely won't!"

Although he refused to help make the lunches, Lovino made sure to supervise Feliciano and Gilbert's work. He knew that Feliciano could make damn good sandwiches and salads, but he didn't trust that crimson eyed fool. He'd been proven that Gilbert was a rather good chef, that much was true, but he definitely didn't want any sausages in his lunch. It was bad enough that Gilbert had stuffed their refrigerator with the disgusting meat, so he definitely didn't want any of it on this picnic that was supposed to be relaxing.

Once they'd finished arguing about which little snacks to take and packing their things, they picked up Ludwig from his apartment and set out on the road. All the while driving, Lovino was forced to listen to the useless rambling going on between Gilbert and Feliciano. The only thing he would ever agree with Ludwig on was that those two were way too excited about something so simplistic. By the time they arrived at the open grassland not too far from the lake, Lovino had a raging headache.

"I think over here is good," Feliciano said, when they finally found a spot under a large tree to sit after he had rejected so many before. One more time and Lovino would definitely have exploded on him.

"It's surprisingly very sunny out, I guess summer decided to come back one more time in the middle of autumn. Am I right?"

"Gilbert, that does not make any—"

"Shut up, Ludwig. It makes sense to me, alright?"

Lovino sighed loudly and plopped down onto the big blanket under the shade. "How about both of you Germans shut up, sit down, and eat so we can leave this damn place already."

Once they all received their equal portions, it was mainly silent except for the small chatter between Feliciano and Ludwig, and the birds chirping nearby. Out of boredom, Lovino observed as Gilbert ate a little less messier than usual, Ludwig ate at a steady and orderly pace, and Feliciano consumed his sandwich like a sloth. After he slurped down some of the cool lemonade, he was ready to go back home.

"Try some of my banana pudding, I made it myself," Feliciano said, slowly scooping a spoon-full into Ludwig's mouth.

"Oh god. Do you seriously have to do this every damn time?" Lovino was just about ready to barf as he turned away from the grotesque couple and hoped he'd be able to hold his lunch in his stomach where it belonged, and not on the grass.

"Alert, alert! Old married couple committing lovey-dovey acts!" Gilbert teased, pointing and laughing as Feliciano used a napkin to wipe the sides of Ludwig's mouth.

"He was just helping me, that is all." Ludwig frowned and avoided his brother's remarks as a hint of a blush filled his cheeks.

"Whatever, don't be mad because it's true. You two act like one of those couples in a shitty drama, where one of you dies at the end from sickness. So typical. And you've been dating for, what, two and a half years or so?"

Feliciano frowned slightly and waved a finger. "Gilly, you shouldn't say such mean things. Don't worry Luddy, he's probably just jealous because he's single now. But, I'm sure he'll get used to it soon."

Both Lovino and Ludwig suddenly burst out with laughter as Feliciano only shrugged, clueless to his harsh words of truth.

"W-what? I'm not jealous! Why would I need to be, it's awesome being alone anyways. No one telling me shit to do, nothing to worry about at all," Gilbert explained, but the red blotches on his face said otherwise.

"Oh shut up, you just got your ass handed to you, so don't even try to explain."

Lovino continued to chuckle to himself as he grabbed some of the banana pudding and scooped it onto his paper plate. If only Feliciano said things like that more often, perhaps it wouldn't be much of an annoyance to have the idiot around. Or maybe he did those things intentionally to make people think he was oblivious and innocent, just so they could feel the burn twice as hard when he casually lashed out at them. Whatever it was, Lovino had to give him some props.

"Whatever, you losers just can't handle me. Now where's the pudding? I want more."

"Everyone had an equal share, it's not our fault you scarfed it down like a ferocious beast," Lovino said, slowly eating his portion just to be a tease.

"Sorry, Gilly. I'll make sure to bring extra next time, though!"

Gilbert was once again forced to watch, as Feliciano tried to feed some of his pudding to Ludwig, who politely tried declining each time to avoid further embarrassment. Lovino continued to savor each bite of his, taking notice of Gilbert's staring.

"You know what would be awesome?" he finally said, when he couldn't take it anymore.

"What?"

"If you fed me like Feli feeds Luddy!"

Lovino instantly paused and almost dropped his spoon from that idiotic suggestion. "Hell no! You're not a baby and… and I don't have to share with you. You ate yours, so too bad."

"Aw, c'mon! Think of all the things that I have done for you."

"Like what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. This should be interesting.

Gilbert thought for a few seconds then nodded. "Like… that time you broke your leg in high school! And, I carried you all the way to the nurse's office from the field."

"Anyone could have done that. And you would have to be an evil bastard to just leave me lying there, especially when it was your fault that I broke it in the first damn place!"

"Oh, right… okay, and what about that time I gave you a couple hundred bucks?"

"You broke one of our antique lamps, plus you forgot to give me a birthday gift a week before that."

"Fuck, why do you always make it seem like I'm the bad guy?" Gilbert pouted, trying his hardest to remember a time that actually turned out in his favor.

"That's because you usually are the bad guy."

Lovino stuck out his tongue before shoveling another spoon-full of the delicious banana pudding into his mouth. There was probably only a few scoops left on the plate, and Gilbert was running out of time fast! He quickly scrambled around in his memories before a wide smirk grew on his face.

"What about last week?" he asked, leaning just a bit closer to Lovino.

"What the hell do you mean?"

"You know, last week? Surely you couldn't have forgotten when the power went out during that storm. Then we slept toge—"

"Okay! Shut up! I'll give you some, but only because I'm full now, anyway."

Lovino shoved a big wad of pudding into Gilbert's mouth to keep him from uttering another embarrassing word. There was no way he'd ever forget that unfortunate event, but mainly because he didn't find it unfortunate at all. He had even considered thanking the storm for giving him the opportunity to cuddle so closely to Gilbert on the couch that night. And the next morning, they continued to cuddle until Gilbert had finally stopped being lazy and woke up. Lovino would never admit to having woke up again just a few minutes before him, and casually playing with Gilbert's messy hair to his heart's content. Gilbert really was a heavy sleeper.

"See, now was that so hard? It's so delicious, I want some more."

Lovino groaned but decided to do as he was told. This time, he slowly fed Gilbert another spoon-full and resisted the urge to shove the entire plate into his face. Eventually, the rest of his precious pudding was gone and the two of them were forced to watch Feliciano and Ludwig start acting mushy again.

"Screw this, I'm going for a walk. Call me when you guys get fed up with each other's faces and it's time to go home." Lovino stood up, brushed off the small crumbs from his jeans, and began walking away.

"Wait for me! I'm not watching the two love birds play tonsil hockey."

Practically jumping up from the blanket, Gilbert followed after Lovino as they walked along the narrow trail and disappeared down a hill.

"So, where are we going? It better be awesome, since you didn't allow me to bring my PSP with us."

"Who the hell brings an electronic game system to a picnic?" Lovino asked, rolling his eyes.

"The real question is, who doesn't? We could have at least brought kites to fly… but, you guys didn't even have that at your house. Seriously, what the hell do you two do for fun?"

"Kites suck. They fly for a split second before crashing to the ground, every single fucking time. Then, you're sitting there with the stupid strings tangled up like spaghetti, cursing to yourself when you can't get them loose. Next thing you know, you're having a raging fit as you toss it to the ground again and repeatedly jump on top of the piece of junk."

"I'm guessing that has happened to you? Because, I'm a professional at flying kites," Gilbert snorted.

"It hasn't happened to me! I was just… using it as an example. Whatever, if you're a so-called professional, then I'm forcing you to teach me how to fly one sometime. Forget about that stuff for now, I wanna show you something."

Only a few seconds later, they came upon a vast field of flowers. Purples, yellows, reds, pinks, and oranges spread all throughout the area as if to form a rainbow with only a few missing colors. Seeing as Gilbert almost went into shock from the beautiful sight, Lovino grabbed his hand and led him into the center of it all before plopping down onto the ground.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? This place is probably the only peaceful area that's also gorgeous at the same time. Feli and I used to come here with our grandfather when we were kids."

He sighed and placed his hands behind his head, gazing up at the beautiful clear blue sky. If Lovino wanted to, he could fall asleep in that comfortable position and take a wonderful nap for hours. Of course, who knows what he'd wake up to find.

"This looks… almost exactly like the nesting ground for the elves!" Gilbert exclaimed, finally snapping out of his trance.

"What?"

"It's a place on this new RPG that I play!"

Is this bastard seriously comparing this outrageously beautiful nature to a damn video game? Lovino's thoughts swarmed with knocking some sense into the mesmerized fool next to him and forcing him to appreciate the natural beauty in life.

"Can't you at least try to be, like, romantic for once? Or something other than thinking about games, porn, and food?"

"You forgot 'awesome'. However, that's not all that I think about! Hmph, I'm offended that you would say such things about me. Hell, I can be romantic when I want to, probably even more than you." Gilbert plucked one of the nearby flowers and twisted the stem between his fingers.

"Yeah? I'd like to see you try, since you live in a fantasy life instead of reality," Lovino scoffed.

"It's simple. All you have to do is say some cheesy line, but make it sound believable. Like… 'Lovino, you are the light at the end of this dark tunnel of my life'. Or, if you want to try and make it sound complex, 'You are the bright spirit that guides me through this dark tunnel of my life, encouraging me to reach the end of this rigid abyss where we shall meet the light together'."

Lovino stared, confused and unsure if any of that made sense and if he actually liked it or not. "Where the fuck did you hear that?"

"On TV once. But, everyone knows that actions speak louder than words."

Suddenly, Lovino found himself watching as Gilbert lied down beside him and began to run a hand through his chestnut colored hair. He hummed silently and chuckled to himself as he played with every single strand of hair on Lovino's head that he could reach.

"Now what the hell… are you doing?"

"Being romantic?" he answered, gliding his hand around, just barely missing the curl.

"You're just messing up my damn hair, I hardly think that's romantic at all." Lovino's eyes turned away from staring at Gilbert's face to avoid any unnecessary blushing.

"It still feels good though, right?"

"Whatever… it's making me sleepy, that's for sure. Um… so, d-don't stop."

Gilbert laughed shortly and nodded at Lovino's embarrassing request. A free head massage was all he wanted, really! Even though Gilbert's hand was only gently fondling his head, he could somehow feel the soft touches throughout every nerve in his entire body. That hand was also warm, it was unimaginably soothing. Lovino shut his eyes and listened to the subtle humming originating from Gilbert's throat.

He could feel himself slowly drifting off, although it was probably a bad idea to fall asleep right then, since he still had to drive all the way back to the city. Maybe just a couple more minutes, then they would get up and return to their annoying younger brothers to get the hell out of there. Yeah, just a few more minutes of the wonderful sensation of Gilbert playing in his hair. Lovino supposed he learned something new that day. He liked having his hair played with, he liked it a lot. As long as his curl wasn't touched, everything was perfectly okay.

"Mm, Gilbert," he muttered, almost not realizing he'd said it aloud.

"Hm?" Gilbert found this little situation to be quite amusing, since Lovino was acting like an adorable puppy who really liked his ears being scratched.

Lovino finally opened his tired and relaxed eyes, staring up into Gilbert's bright ones. They were even more noticeable than the many different colors of flowers around them. He concluded that Gilbert's crimson eyes were better described as jewels, instead of mere plants. They looked exactly like rubies, which were now his favorite gemstones of all.

"There you guys are! We've been looking for you."

A glass shattered in Lovino's head when he heard the call of Feliciano's voice. Gilbert's hand quickly disappeared from his head, leaving him severely disappointed and starving for more. He irritably sat up and turned around to see the other two waving for them to come back.

"It's official! Feli is the world's most certified cockblocker," Gilbert laughed, standing up and stretching.

"W-what do you mean by that?"

"Hm? Nothing at all. Here."

Gilbert handed the plucked flower into Lovino's hands and patted him on the back before jogging back up the hill. Lovino stared at the red tulip before clenching it into his hands and deciding to keep it, only because it was too beautiful to toss to the ground. That's the only reason.

Once at home again, Lovino tried to hide the fact that he was moping around the entire time that Gilbert was packing. It was going to suck, just being him and Feliciano in the house again. But, that's the way it had always been, and he figured he'd better get used to it once more.

"It was nice having you stay over with us, I hope you do it again really soon," Veneziano said, as he gave Gilbert a big hug.

"Yeah, it was awesome! It's not like I'm moving to another planet, though. So you guys can stop looking so sad."

Lovino snorted and turned his head, there was no way he'd be sad about something so stupid. "Tch, I'm not sad. So, bye."

"Good, good. Because being sad sucks, I should know. Well, see you guys whenever."

Gilbert waved one last time before picking up his suitcase and opening the front door to leave.

"Wait! I mean… aren't you forgetting something?" Lovino called out, unable to stop himself. Usually, there would be a little kissing scene at this moment in one of the soap operas he'd watched or the books that he read. He knew that wouldn't happen now, but it was fun to pretend.

"Um, no? I don't think so." Gilbert stared back at him for a short while, thinking to himself about what he could have possibly forgotten. Suddenly, he smiled and turned around. Before Lovino knew it, he was wrapped tightly in Gilbert's arms into a long hug.

"Thanks. You know, for everything you've done for me these past two weeks and more. Who knows where I'd be if it hadn't been for you, I really appreciate it."

Lovino listened as Gilbert whispered those words into his ear, repeatedly thanking him and ceasing to loosen his grip.

"I… well you— It was nothing, so… you're welcome, dammit."

Once he'd finally let go, Gilbert smiled and gave Lovino a pat on the shoulder before heading towards the front door again.

"It's okay to miss my awesome self. I just might miss you, too. Anyways, see ya!"

The door closed with a slight slam as Lovino stood in the same position as before, enthralled by Gilbert's scent that still filled the air.

"Your face is red," Veneziano pointed out.

"No, it's not."

"Yeah, it is."

"Shut up and go be annoying somewhere else!" Lovino yelled, running up the stairs and into his bedroom where he plopped down onto the bed like a distressed teenage girl. Their home would definitely be silent from then on, and he wouldn't have to worry much about his physical appearance anymore while he slouched around the house. Still, he'd much rather it be loud and fun with Gilbert, more than anything else.

"He could always come by anytime, so it's not like I should be sad," he muttered to himself, burying his face into the pillow.

A handful of days went by, but Lovino's mood was still unusual. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to go back to his normal, grouchy self. He'd only heard from Gilbert once, but it was a text saying how much Ludwig was getting on his nerves already. Lovino really didn't give a crap about that, especially since it was to be expected.

At work, he completely ignored his colleagues bickering and, well, everything else for that matter. He decided that maybe he would invite Gilbert over for dinner that afternoon, and he'd yell at the idiot for leaving a couple bottles of his stupid beer that neither Lovino nor Feliciano even drank. Yeah, that'd be a good excuse, and then Gilbert would come over and drink the beer while they have dinner, since it would be late. Obviously, it would only be a coincidence that he'd arrive during suppertime.

"Are you even listening to me?"

Lovino snapped out of his daydreaming to find Arthur waving a hand in front of his face. How long he'd been there, who knows.

"No, was I supposed to be?" he answered, a little irritated as he gathered his things to leave.

"It's only common courtesy to listen to people when they are addressing you. Anyways, your new client whom you will be meeting with next week, is very important to us. Try to be kind, alright? Even the slightest comment could get you on their bad side."

"Alright, alright. I'm leaving for the day, I've got… things to do."

Great, another bitchy client to deal with. What sucks most is that he couldn't even tell them to shut the fuck up! That was considered 'rude' and whatnot. He was especially glad when he finally exited the building and began walking down the sidewalk. Maybe it would be best to call Gilbert? Or a text? He didn't want to sound weird or desperate, because he definitely wasn't. But, he had no idea why he was even nervous in the first place.

Usually, Gilbert either came to visit them without their permission, or Lovino invited him only to rid himself of the everlasting boredom that always haunted him. He would call and say 'Get your ass over here and entertain me, I've got free food' or something like that. However, lately, even the smallest attempt to contact Gilbert seemed impossible. Perhaps he was just used to having the guy around, that had to be the reason.

Strolling along seemed to give his thoughts some fresh air, so he decided to return home after a few more minutes. As he came along, he noticed a familiar figure walking in the opposite direction as him. When he looked closely, he saw that it was none other than Elizaveta.

For some reason, he felt that he should hide. There was obviously nowhere to hide, though, and she would immediately recognize his face. He hadn't seen her since that time at the town square, and seeing her now that she was no longer with Gilbert felt unimaginably awkward. Without thinking, he took out the cell phone out of his pocket and began to fiddle with it, pretending as if he wasn't paying attention. Yeah, that would definitely work.

"Lovino? Hey, how are you!" she called out to him, as they were just about to pass each other.

"Ah— hey, Liz." Lovino cursed inwardly to himself at his fail plan as she gave him a tight hug.

"I haven't seen you in awhile, how are things? Oh, let's get a drink together!"

Since they happened to be standing outside of a coffee shop, they both agreed to get a refreshing beverage before they would sit down together. Oddly, Elizaveta seemed to be a in very happy mood, even more so than usual. Lovino hoped that she wouldn't notice how awkward he was feeling.

"So yeah, I've been average… what about you?" he asked.

"Oh, I've been doing great! I guess I'm in high spirits because of my great progress at work and other things. But, I've been feeling much better since the break-up, which I'm pretty sure everyone knows about now."

"I'm sorry about… you and Gilbert." Lovino quickly slurped some of his cappuccino to avoid feeling even more awkward, especially since he didn't know if a 'sorry' was the right thing to say at that moment.

"Don't be sorry, Lovi. It was something between us, and well, I knew our relationship was coming to an end a long time ago."

"But, I had always thought that you two were the perfect couple, or some shit like that."

Elizaveta chuckled and shook her head. "There's no such thing as the perfect couple, silly! Every couple has their ups and downs. Sometimes… it's just hard to get through them, though."

"Do you hate him now?"

She paused for a second in the middle of drinking her green tea to think. She then set the cup down and gave Lovino a firm look, then shook her head again.

"No, no. I could never hate anyone, especially him. For some reason, I still care for the jerk… I mean, we've had our fair share or arguments and fights, but I could never bring my self to hate someone whom I used to see as my best friend. We've spoken a couple times since that night… and we plan to meet up soon to discuss things about our living situations."

Gilbert had been completely right. This woman sure was far too kind for her own good, and she deserved happiness perhaps more than anyone else. If it were Lovino who had found out his partner cheated, he would have no doubt been in prison by now for murder. He felt his chest cringe as he listened to her explanation, since he had played a significant role in their break-up.

"And, it's just like you said before, Lovi. Gilbert thinks in such strange ways, I could never truly understand him. However, you understand him quite well. Sometimes it's as if you two know what the other person is thinking."

"No, well, sort of… I mean, it's only natural that I do. That bastard's been around me for a long time and I guess you can say that we know things about each other that no one else does. He's… my best friend, just like Antonio and Francis are."

"Hm, but it's much more than that. You two have a lot of chemistry, and no matter what kind of predicaments you get into together, you're somehow always able to go right back to being close friends. It's almost as if you two are linked by the red string of fate!" she chuckled, and teasingly winked. "What do you think?"

It was true that they had a few things in common, but were they really that compatible? Despite being annoying most of the time and always teasing people, Gilbert was someone that could never be replaced in Lovino's life. He was funny, obviously not bad looking at all, considerate when he wanted to be, and had a cute side that Lovino was sure only he knew about. Sure, he was very rough around the edges, but they both were, and so they understood what it was like to be misunderstood by others.

Lovino liked Gilbert a lot, he truly did. Those feelings of like slowly began to transform into more complex feelings that he couldn't understand at first, but it suddenly all made sense now. He didn't know when it had happened, or how. He wasn't even quite sure why it happened, but he knew the truth, and that truth wouldn't change whether he wanted it to or not. Nothing anyone could have said or done would change the way he felt about the man who sent his life into confusing spirals.

"I— I'm in love with Gilbert," he blurted out. He had no idea why he had just told that to Elizaveta, who stared at him in shock from that sudden announcement. What he did know was that his heart exploded and his head would soon, too.

"I know," she responded, and casually went back to consuming her beverage.

"W-what? What the hell do you mean by, 'I know'?"

"I mean that I've always known. It's so easy to tell by the way that you look at him. And, you two have a bond that I don't think anyone else has. That's very admirable, in a way."

Lovino could only stare down at the table as millions of thoughts ran wildly in his mind. "But, still… how did you know?"

"I guess it's women's intuition? Just kidding, but like I said, it's pretty obvious!" Elizaveta chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

"You mean, you seriously don't find it weird as fuck that someone else… is in love with your ex, and has liked them even before you guys broke up? I mean, you're not even the least bit pissed?"

"Why would it be weird and why would I be angry? Lovino… you're my friend, too. Aren't you? I want you to be happy, and it's not in my hands to say who you are allowed to fall in love with. That's just silly!"

Her reactions to everything that he was saying was definitely unexpected. He almost found himself completely unable to speak as he slowly finished his drink, failing to take notice of everything else around him and getting lost in his thoughts.

"Anyways, I don't want you to feel as if you're doing something wrong. Gilbert and I are not together anymore, and there aren't any hard feelings, I think. Besides, if it weren't for him, I would have never met Roderich so many years ago. He has been so generous to me lately."

"Wait! Where are you going?" he asked, when Elizaveta stood from her chair.

"I'm going out somewhere fun this evening, so I must get back home to change. It was nice talking with you, though! And, Lovino… don't hold back, okay?"

She gave him one last confident smile before quickly walking off and disappearing around the corner. Lovino was almost clueless of whatever had just happened. He'd spoken with Elizaveta, who seemed oddly happy, and admitted his love for Gilbert. Right, that's exactly what happened—

"I'm really… in love with Gilbert?" he asked himself, when he reached the subject in his thoughts. That's what he had told Elizaveta, and it was also how he truly felt. It was beyond frightening, and now he was shaking. A mere crush had actually turned into love. Love is not something that he wanted— well, he did. But, who doesn't? When he thought about himself actually being in love with someone, it almost made him go crazy.

He sat there, consumed in his own thoughts for a few more minutes before deciding he should probably go home and hide in the tree house for a few hours to sulk. As soon as he stood from the chair, the ringtone on his cell phone went off. He didn't need to guess that it was Gilbert, and he froze for a short moment before answering it on a whim. Before he could speak, Gilbert sighed into the speaker.

"Hey Lovino, also known as the guy who doesn't call me anymore for some reason. What're you up to?"

"M-me? Not call you? Dumb ass, if you wanted to speak with me then you should've called first!" The nervousness from Lovino's voice completely disappeared as Gilbert laughed and he couldn't help but laugh himself.

"Nah, that's your job. I've been waiting for you to call me and beg to be around my awesomeness, but you never did so I decided to make it easier and call you myself."

"As if I'd ever do that… and, I was going to call you soon, actually," Lovino admitted, as he began to hurry home.

"Really? I mean, of course. What were you going to say?"

"Yeah, well, you left some beer at our place. I don't like to waste food and stuff, so you better get your ass to my house and drink them this evening. And… while you're there, we should have dinner together. I mean, if you want to. I don't care if you don't, more food for me and Feli."

"Sure, I can do that! So you better make that delicious pizza of yours. Now, let me tell you about this embarrassing shit that Luddy did yesterday, it's hilarious."

Lovino listened to Gilbert's random story about a cheese grater and smiled to himself. He didn't know how he could have possibly fell in love with this man who found humor in the most random situations. However, he did love him. He loved Gilbert and that insane personality of his. He loved his eyes, his hair, and his smile. Everything that was part of Gilbert, even the flaws, were something more for him to cherish. Perhaps things wouldn't be so bad from now on, he hoped.