"So you really know nothing about why I suddenly keep coming here?" Antonio asked, sprawled across the sofa next to Lovino . He'd asked before, but he really wanted to know and he was nothing if not persistent.
Lovino shot him another glare. "No. Stop asking. If I knew, I'd have stopped it from happening already. And as far as I know, which admittedly isn't much here, no one who's, well, alive, has ever come here before. That's how no one on Earth knows about what heaven is; there's only speculation."
Antonio hummed thoughtfully. "So I'm an anomaly. Unique if you will.~"
"I'll say you're unique," Lovino muttered. "I haven't met someone who's been able to annoy me as much in two meetings. Wait, scrap that. Potato jerk's got you beat on that count. You're not unique."
"Everyone's unique, Lovi," Antonio replied.
Lovino shook his head. "That is another of the stupidest things I've heard. How the hell can everyone be unique? It's...ah, what's that word? Oxymoronic. Yeah."
"Everyone is unique, you know," Antonio persisted. "Like...Gilbert's unique because of his eyes and his, er, ego. Roderich's unique because no one else can play the piano like him. Francis is unique because-"
"Because no one else spends all their time perving and molesting people," Lovino interrupted.
Antonio laughed. "That wasn't quite what I was going to say. But I suppose he's unique enough in that fashion. And you're unique because of the way you're so, er, honest to everyone, and how much you like tomatoes, and you're good at football, and, of course, because you're really cute!~"
"For the last fucking time, I'm not cute, you bastard. And I'm sure I've got better things to be doing than sat on my ass talking to you about useless crap." Lovino folded his arms and gave Antonio another of his trademark glares that made his mouth crinkle at the edges and his eyes shine in the light of the candles above.
"Aw.~" Antonio smiled. "Ok. How about we go for a walk, now it's nice out? There's so much here I still haven't seen, and this house alone looks like it has some amazing grounds. Can you show me? Please?" He wasn't really meaning to plead, but he was enjoying the effect that his admiring words were having on Lovino. His face lit up in a soft, glowing blush that was only noticeable if you were looking at it, but it was a really endearing expression.
Lovino just sighed. "Fine."
"Yay!" Antonio cried, grabbing Lovino's hand and leaping to his feet. "Where shall we start? How about the grounds of the house? Or you could tell me a bit about the town and where you got the ideas for it? Or just wander around a bit, maybe? What do you think?"
"I don't know," Lovino shrugged. "It's not as if I was expecting visitors. Start at the house and work outwards? I don't care." He pulled his hand out of Antonio's and led the way down the marble hallway, which was looking much more homely and cheerful now it was brightly lit and covered in lavish decoration.
Outside, the air was filled with the refreshing smell of a recent rainfall, and the clear droplets hung from the trees and between blades of grass like hundreds of tiny crystals. Antonio breathed in the cool, sweet air and smiled as the two walked around the outside of the house, the wide, welcoming windows and imperial columns of which were now visible. The front of the house was a broad, landscaped lawn, its flawless surface dotted with sculpted hedges and bursts of colour. It seemed larger than Antonio remembered from walking through it, but that was probably just the change in light.
As they walked around to the back, where Lovino informed him that most of the grounds were located, the scenery changed from majestic and imposing to beautiful and spectacular. And, to Antonio, there was a clear difference between the two. It was as if the front was built to impress, but the rear was chosen for the beauty of the foliage themselves, to create a perfect atmosphere that was a world apart from normal life.
He almost didn't notice Lovino shrug next to him. "I've no idea what to say on stuff like this. I've never given much of a tour before. Whatever. It's not like you're anyone to impress or anything. So." He jerked a thumb back at the house. "We're not touring in there 'cos it's just a house and there's not much in there that hasn't been in a hundred other houses before, and also you said you wanted to go out, so that's what we're doing." He took a sharp breath and brought his tumbling sentence to a halt, before continuing in a more off-handed fashion. "This thing over here's a bridge, obviously. Even dumb bastards like you can see that."
Antonio followed his gaze and spotted the wooden bridge curving gently over the rippling waters of a stream. Its far end dived into a plethora of vibrant bushes, their whip-thin branches almost blocking the exit.
He stopped in the middle of it and peered over the edge, watching as his reflection peered back and locked eyes with him. Smooth pebbles winked back at him from the riverbed as the waters washed easily over them. The tiny swift shape of a red fish darted past, almost a blur.
Suddenly he noticed Lovino's reflection wasn't next to him. "Lovi?" he questioned, looking around for the now absent Italian. He hadn't abandoned him, had he? ...Had he?
"Legends say an evil troll lives under this bridge," Lovino's disembodied voice echoed from nearby. "And it eats people who dare to linger on its territory."
Antonio laughed at the younger's antics. "Oh, Lovi. There's no such thing as trolls."
There was an eerie laugh, complete with strange echo. "Oh really? Try convince yourself of that when one eats your guts!" This last sentence was shouted as Lovino flipped over the rail from where he'd been hanging under the bridge and landed heavily on Antonio's back, eliciting a surprised grunt from the Spaniard as he tried to keep his balance.
Lovino quickly slipped off and thudded to the ground in a disheveled heap. "Ow! You dropped me, bastard," he growled through panted laughs.
Antonio was about to reply, but the words died in his throat when he noticed Lovino's expression. The laughter had drawn a small smile to his face and his eyes glinted a dozen shades of gold. He looked so beautiful when he smiled. Antonio couldn't remember an instance when he'd seen Lovino smile, or even heard of it happening. He'd always been reputed as a rather grumpy character. But instantly he knew it was an expression he wanted to cause and see again.
A hand waved in front of his face. "Oi. You haven't even so much as apologised. Wake up, jerk. But not literally." Lovino jolted and sprung back, suddenly flustered. 'I mean, go ahead and do that. I don't care. Shut up, damn it."
Pulling himself to his feet, Antonio drew his laughter to a reluctant halt. "So cute. Come on, Lovi. Are we going to continue the tour?"
"Whatever." Lovino turned, deliberately avoiding Antonio's eyes and marched off the bridge and through the bushes.
A minute or two later, once Lovino had stopped glaring at random points in the distance, he started the sort-of-tour again. "So, it's mostly plants and stuff down here. Not that that's a bad thing. Plants are manly, damn it. 'Specially cacti. But I don't have any of those here. Yet. But what I do have is that arch. Grandpa always said it was special, but I don't know why. Never asked. Probably ought to." He pointed two curved lengths of wire looped across the path ahead, barely visible beneath the covering of an array of full-bodied roses.
"Wow,~" Antonio replied appreciatively. "Those things take ages to get to grow properly."
"Over there's the maze," Lovino continued, waving a hand at a tall border of hedge sweeping for quite some distance to their left. "We're not going in there, though, 'cos all I do in there is get hopelessly lost until I reconfigure the whole stupid thing so I can get out. Which is no fun. It's 'cos my only memories of the maze back at Grandpa's old place are of getting lost, which means I never remember the way out now. It sucks big time. Moving on. That over there's the flower garden. It's there because..." He paused and grew slightly quieter. "Feliciano really likes flowers, among other things. So it's kinda a...whatever the reverse of a memorial is, since, you know, I'm the dead one and things. Not that I...miss him or anything. You want to go in?"
"Yes!" Antonio promptly responded, keen to move the conversation away from topics that would make Lovino sad. "I love flowers!" He took the Italian's hand, only to have it quickly wrenched away, and led the way through tall shrubbery into the flower garden.
It truly did live up to its name. Flowers of all kinds bloomed in dozens of different beds across the garden, arranged artfully so the colours never clashed and the mass of different plants never looked disorganised or crowded. Daisies intertwined with delicate blue cornflowers, golden rue shimmered in the bright light, a large rhododendron bush bloomed rich in one corner, and white roses climbed their way across a network of fencing.
"It's so pretty~," Antonio said admiringly. "There's all sorts of flowers here, more than I could even try to name! You really are good at visualising brilliant heavens, Lovi! The only thing I can see missing is carnations. I like-"
"You were saying, bastard?" Lovino interrupted, pointing at a flowerbed a few feet away. In the soft soil grew bright carnations of at least five different colours, plus several combinations of multiple colours, petals wide open in a full expression of their beauty. The thing was, Antonio could have sworn that they hadn't been there the moment before.
Lovino stepped up to the plot and neatly snapped a crimson blossom off one of the stalks. With a glint in his eye, he pinned the flower on the buttonhole of Antonio's shirt. "Hah. I win this round. I have all the flowers, including carnations. Lovino; 1, Tomato Bastard; 0."
The beautiful cardinal bloom stood out proudly from the soft white material. Antonio's chest suddenly felt full of high pressure. Lovino had just given him a flower, and he'd deliberately grown a whole bed full of them, just because Antonio had said he'd liked them. The Italian was showing a gentle and generous side that he hadn't known existed, although through a slightly shy and impertinent manner.
Antonio smiled, trying to tone down the euphoria running through his veins at that moment. "Gracias, Lovi! I'd give you a thank-you hug, but it'd crush my new flower."
"Good. I don't want a hug," was Lovino's blunt response, before he set off through the grounds again, Antonio in pursuit, laughing.
The two continued with the tour for quite some time, before Lovino informed him that they'd exhausted the contents of the grounds, unless he wanted to get himself lost in the maze, in which case he was a stupid bastard and Lovino wasn't going to bail him out this time. Which Antonio supposed was fair enough.
So they decided to go towards the town instead. Antonio had been there before – twice in fact – but neither time had been with Lovino, and Antonio was dying to know the little inner details of Lovino's mind which shaped the world into the place that it was.
The sun shone warm, but comfortable, as the pair walked down a gravelled road towards the town. Neither of them said anything, but the silence held the same atmosphere as the golden light, and it was the same relaxed air that they'd stood in the day before. Antonio was still filled with the bright happiness he'd got ever since he'd found Lovino again, but the back of his mind was worrying about how long he'd been here, and if he was likely to wake up soon. He didn't want to wake up; it was far too nice here. Time to distract himself from those troubling thoughts, though. There was a chance that if he thought too much about it, he actually would wake up.
"Why are the roads curved?" Antonio asked. "I mean, not that I'm complaining, but if a lot of things here are based on Italy, and the Romans always built straight roads, why are these not?"
Lovino gave him an odd look. "Random question, much? Anyway, I don't see why I have to model everything on the Romans. They're only a part of Italy, and besides, where are the aesthetics in a straight road when the surface of the hill is curved? No-fucking-where, that's for certain."
Antonio laughed. "You've got such a mouth, Lovi. Do you know why the Romans built straight roads?"
"Why the hell should I know such useless facts?" Lovino replied.
Antonio cracked a grin. "So their soldiers wouldn't go around the bend!" He quickly ducked as Lovino aimed a swipe at his head, which luckily was deliberately made to miss.
"If you tell any more jokes as dumb as that, you're not allowed to come here anymore."
"Aw, no!" Antonio pouted. "No more jokes, I promise! Hey, wait...allowed? You allow me here?" Had Lovino been lying earlier about knowing why he was here?
Lovino shook his head and gave a half-smirk. "Don't be a jackass all your life. It was what's known as an idle threat. I can't do sod all about you coming here, unfortunately. Otherwise you wouldn't know this place exists at all, and instead would be by yourself at home sobbing yourself to pieces about the loss of your favourite Italian."
Antonio started. How could Lovino possibly have known about the extent of his grief? Oh man, was that embarrassing. He opened his mouth to protest and perhaps, hopefully, come up with some explanation that would make him look like less of an idiot, but then caught sight of Lovino's amused expression. Oh. He was just poking fun. That was a relief.
"Very funny, Lovi," he grinned, secretly relieved. "I didn't miss you that much. Although I did miss you quite a bit. But many people did, though, it wasn't just me." He was careful to stop himself here. Best not to dig himself further down the same hole he'd just escaped falling into.
Lovino just hmmphed in response, his expression once again cynical, and lapsed into silence. Antonio, wishing to avoid both revisiting the subject and blurting out something stupid and the awkward silences that would follow, just went along with this until they arrived back at the town a few minutes later.
At Antonio's prompting, albeit with a glare, Lovino started talking about the place again, and this time, Antonio saw a real light in the younger's eyes and a faint edge of passion in his voice as he spoke.
It turned out there was a lot to the town that had sprung up from the depths of Lovino's subconscious. Some of it was based on places that Lovino had memories of as a child in Italy, others were somewhat from the internet, history books and guidebooks, and a few based purely on the architecture of Lovino's imagination. One thing Antonio noted as strange, though, was the large aqueduct that ran across an edge of a grassy square. Either it was his memory being slightly faulty, or the aqueduct looked somewhat like a smaller version of the one in Segovia, which was odd because that was definitely in Spain. He decided it was just him mistaking things and to forget about it. After all, Rome had plenty of aqueducts too.
Most of it was, as Antonio suspected, inspired by Italy. The fountain that he'd seen before was indeed the Trevi Fountain, or at least heaven's version of it as opposed to the actual, as were the rest of Italy's famous monuments dotted about the place. As Lovino explained, he loved the culture and architecture of his home country, but, being the lazy type, he hated the massive differences that came with visiting them, so he put them all in one town so the only travelling necessary was a short walk. The various districts of the town were inspired by Italian cities, from the canals of Venice to Renaissance-era Rome. And somehow, this patchwork of streets and buildings really worked, forming the most awe-inspiring town Antonio had known.
Yet, as they toured, Antonio couldn't help but noticing how desperately empty the place was. Save for the two of them, there was still no one around, and Antonio had deliberately been keeping half an eye out for other residents. But, still nothing.
It was on the way out of the town some time later, as they were heading across a field in the vague direction of the lake, that he decided to find out why.
"Hey, Lovi," he asked. "How come there's no one else here? If this is heaven, surely there are other dead people here? Aren't you lonely?"
Lovino shook his head. "Don't be stupid. Of course there are loadsa people here, billions have died over the years. They just aren't visible here. You know this place adjusts itself depending on a person's preferences? I don't like people much, so I don't see anyone else who's dead here. They'd just annoy me, and most people are bastards anyway. The only person I'm able to see is Grandpa. He's here too, somewhere, but he likes hanging around in places with loads of women so he can have lots of sex and drink wine and annoy Aldric and whatever else he likes to do, so I don't see him much. I don't care though. I'm used to being alone, and that's how I prefer it." He scowled defiantly and stared away at the horizon, but from the look on his face, he actually did care. A lot.
Antonio threw an arm around the other's shoulders. "Don't worry, Lovi! You don't have to be alone any more. 'Cos I'm going to come here and visit you every day! I come here when I go to sleep, so I'll be here every time that happens. I'll get to see you lots!"
"Terrific," Lovino muttered sarcastically. "Just what I need, a daily dose of annoying which appears and disappears without any sort of warning."
Antonio rubbed Lovino's shoulder with one hand. "Sorry. I'd change that if I could, Lovi. And I know I said this before, but I'm sorry I disappeared earlier too."
"Don't do that, you creep," Lovino retorted, but made no move to remove Antonio's hand. "And why should I give a damn about whether you're here or not? It's not like you ever meant anything to me."
Antonio paused, hand frozen on Lovino's shoulder. "Hey, Lovi. I never did find out earlier...why did you save me? I woke up before you were able to answer." He turned to face Lovino fully, a gentle half-smile on his face.
The Italian's hazel-gold eyes were wide and slightly panicked. "Lack of judgement," he said, all too quickly, and it was clear from the tension in his face that this was a blatant lie. Antonio just kept their gaze locked and calmly waited for an answer. Well, he hoped he looked calm. For some reason, his heart was pounding like thunder and there was an odd nervous hitch in his chest.
Lovino's look had gone from slightly panicked to full-blown 'rabbit-caught-in-headlights-I'm-about-to-die'. "Dannazione," he muttered faintly, and he broke eye contact, closing his eyes and turning his head away. "I don't...you..." He paused and drew a deep breath. "Ever...ever since we met...well... You were the first person who was nice to me, who spoke to me willingly even though you knew I'm bitchy and swear all the time and pretend not to give three shits about anything. Even though we haven't spoken all that much, I...I just felt like there was some kind of connection. Like with the tomatoes, and football, and other stuff we both like. And you've been the first person who doesn't blatantly prefer Feliciano. Who doesn't always compare me to him. Who- shit, I'm rambling. What – why the fuck is this so hard to say? – what I'm trying to say is...I love you. I have for a while, but you never really seemed to notice me, and why would you ever like someone like me? But I saw that truck headed for you, and I couldn't just stand there and watch you die. So I did the only thing I could." His voice cracked and his words began to crash headfirst into one another. "And now you probably hate me and never liked me like that in the first place so now I'm just going to go and jump into the lake even though it's something like impossible for me to die again." A rebellious tear slid down one cheek as his eyes shot open and he sprinted off across the field at breakneck speed before Antonio could even register the impact of what he'd just said.
"Lovi! Lovi, wait!" Antonio yelled frantically, taking off after the speeding boy. Lovino's words had struck a chord in his heart that resonated like no other. Lovino loved him. Lovino. Loved. Him. It all made so much sense now; the stuttered words, the truck, the odd glances between classes. How long had Lovino been keeping this quiet?
The strange thing was, he didn't seem put-off or even thoughtful about this. In fact, he knew exactly where the situation was now. It was...as if the last piece of a puzzle had slid into place and the final concept had become visible with an electric thrill.
He'd built Lovino up to such a height in his head during his grief, and during these short visits, the time they'd spent together here, the time Antonio had longed to have, their second chance, he realised he now returned Lovino's feelings. He really did, and it wasn't even a surprise. He was just too clueless to notice until now. He loved Lovino Vargas.
So he had to catch up with Lovino, or he'd lose him forever. The Italian knew this place well – he'd invented it, after all – so if he got away he could hide in places Antonio would never think of if he searched for a thousand years.
Overhead, a crack of thunder rolled across the sky as ominous grey clouds began to gather in suspicious groups.
Lovino was a fast runner, Antonio knew this, but his sorrow made him clumsy and he'd almost tripped several times when he wasn't paying attention to the surface. Besides, Antonio had determination on his side, and, as anyone at school knew, a determined Antonio always ended up with what he was looking for.
Soft droplets began splashing intermittently on Antonio's head as it began raining for the second time that day. It wasn't as dark as earlier, or as anywhere near as heavy, but the rain just felt so...sad.
It was about five hundred metres across the fields later when Antonio finally caught up, launching himself at the younger in a flying leap and sending them both tumbling heavily to the floor in a damp heap.
Lovino was making no effort to hide his tears. "Bastard," he sobbed. "Why are you chasing me? Can't you let me be miserable in peace?"
"No," Antonio replied firmly, pulling Lovino to his feet, but keeping a secure hold on his wrist so he couldn't do another runner. The Italian's hair was slightly soggy and his protruding curl was drooping past his ear.
"Let me go!" Lovino protested, pulling at Antonio's grip, which stubbornly refused to budge despite the damp caused by the gently spitting rain.
"No," Antonio repeated. "Lovino, stop that and listen to me. It's true, we may not have talked all that much before now. But your death...it made me realise what an opportunity I had missed. I grieved for you, so much, only wishing that I could have had a chance to know the one who'd sacrificed their life for mine. Then...yesterday, and especially today, the time we've spent together I wouldn't exchange for the world. You're an incredible person, and I could continue like this for hours, but everything I'm saying can be summed up in three words, which you never bothered to ask me at the end of your little confession a minute ago. Lovino, te amo."
Lovino blinked his tear-stained eyes, his expression frozen. "What..? Don't lie just to m-make me feel better, b-bastard."
"I'm not lying," Antonio said gently, taking Lovino's other hand so he held both in his own. "I would never dream of saying these words if I didn't mean them."
Lovino looked far from convinced. "I never should have said anything. How is this even going to work? I'm fucking dead, and you're turning up against all possibility for a reason neither of us know or understand. What...?" His words faded and he closed his eyes in defeat, slumping forward in his stance.
Antonio pulled him close and smiled gently, stroking his hair with one hand. "Lovi, it will work because we will make it work. I don't like the phrase because it sounds so cliché, but it seems like fate. Do you see; even death couldn't keep us apart? I'll spend my days with my friends, and my nights here with you. The best of both worlds, but I'll love the time here the most. My time with you, only you, Lovi."
Almost reluctantly, Lovino looked up, capturing Antonio's eyes with his shimmering, hypnotic hazel orbs. And slowly, hesitantly, as the sun broke through the clouds once more, he nodded and rested his head against Antonio's chest. "Damn it. I could never say no to you, bastard," he murmured quietly.
OOOOOooooooOOOOO
About half an hour later, the two were stood by the edge of the lake in the nearby valley, Antonio's fingers entwined in Lovino's after some half-hearted protesting. However, Lovino seemed slightly restless.
"What time do you normally wake up on Saturdays?" he asked, staring wistfully out over the surface of the lake, waters rippling a thousand shades of orange and gold in the fading light. The sun was beginning to dip lower and lower in the sky; how time had passed so quickly Antonio didn't know.
He sighed. "I almost wish I would never wake up, Lovi. If I can see you only in my dreams, let me dream forever."
"You're such a sappy bastard," Lovino scoffed. He'd quickly reverted to his normal temperament now he was happier and more reassured. Although Antonio was fairly confident that he wouldn't admit to actually being happy. It was just against his nature. But Antonio didn't mind; it meant that Lovino was truly happy if he let it show properly, and it made each beautiful smile, each melodious laugh all the more precious. "But seriously. How much longer do we have left?" Lovino blushed, back stiffening, and scowled in a futile attempt to cover it. "I mean, not that I care or anything."
Antonio laughed. "Of course not, corazón. I usually wake up at somewhere between eleven and noon if I have nothing to do, although if someone phones it can occasionally be earlier."
Lovino was silent, and Antonio could almost feel the waves of regret washing off him. After a few moments he said quietly, "It's ten past eleven now."
"How do you know that?" Antonio asked incredulously, trying to ignore the ever-so-slight panic that came with Lovino's proclamation. And the vague guilt that he kind of wanted to leave his life behind.
Lovino tapped his watch. "Time runs the same, even here. Even though I can make it look like any time of day I wish, I can't slow down or speed up the passage of time. It's somewhat confusing, the way this place works, but I can't do anything about it."
Antonio sighed and pulled Lovino closer. "So our time could be up any minute. I guess we should say our goodbyes now, in case we don't get chance before I have to go."
"Ciao," Lovino answered shortly, folding his arms and turning away.
"Aw, Lovi, that's not how you say goodbye!" Antonio pouted, pulling at Lovino to try turn him back the right way.
"'Tis," Lovino replied. "Ciao means 'bye', jackass. How else are you meant to say goodbye?" He was wearing his patented 'Antonio is an idiot' expression again, which, despite its meaning, Antonio was growing to love.
The older Spanish teenager smiled deviously at his younger counterpart. "Like this." He put his hands around the back of Lovino's neck and pulled him into a kiss.
To Antonio's surprise, Lovino didn't push away, but wrapped his arms around Antonio's back and melted against him. It was soft, sweet, gentle, magical, almost as if they were floating. Antonio could have stayed locked that way forever, but in his heart he knew that they couldn't. It would have to wait for another time. So, very reluctantly, he pulled away after a minute and gazed into Lovino's eyes, enraptured. The Italian's eyes were half-open, dazed, but there was no denying the small smile on his face.
It was, both literally and metaphorically, heaven.
Neither of them broke the embrace, instead staying frozen there as if time had stopped, and both wishing that it would.
But it was perhaps five minutes later when the warmth of Lovino around him disappeared, much to his dismay, and the familiar pitfall swooped through his head down to his stomach as he woke up back beneath the sheets of his bed. The clock read 11:21, proving Lovino's timepiece correct.
Antonio was disappointed, there was no denying that, but also wonderfully elated, as if someone had filled his lungs with endorphin-enriched helium. The spark of happiness that had been missing from his life this past week had danced back with renewed potency, and even the springtime sunlight poking through the window seemed brighter. He really had missed a lot by not getting to know Lovino before he did. His lips tingled with the memory of their kiss.
And it was only until that night that he had to wait to see him again. It was easy to kill a weekend day. Perhaps he'd phone Gilbert and Francis and see if they wanted to do anything. Apart from that, thank you very much Francis.
He stretched and thought briefly about getting dressed as he swung his legs out of bed, but suddenly noticed that he wasn't wearing his pyjamas. Instead, he was still wearing the shirt and trousers that Lovino had leant him, complete with the red flower in the buttonhole. His fingers twitched around the soft petals of the carnation as he carefully detached the precious flower from the shirt and placed it on his desk as though it was made of fragile glass.
And he burst into giddy laughter as he realised his pyjamas must be still folded in the bathroom at Lovino's house. This was surefire proof that this truly was real.
I like this chapter, and it's definitely one of the longer ones I've written (I couldn't bear splitting it in two again). I just saw so much opportunity for little cute fluffy moments~ But enjoy your time while you can, Lovi and Toni, 'cos I have plans still. Oh yes. *evil finger pyramid*
Thank you to everyone who's reviewed. You make me a happy author. :3