Disclaimer: I don't own it, I just ship it

Warning: AU, strong language, boy x boy pairings, violence (more so bullying in the beginning), and because this was inspired by the manga Iris Zero, there may be some minor spoilers for it.

Here's another quick update because you are all so fantastic. The chapter draft wasn't nearly this long, but then Alfred got long-winded. Heh. Story of all my fics.

And I'm adding an additional warning for the beginning of the pep rally scene. There will be a spoiler for Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince. But even if you haven't read the book or seen the movie, I'm sure you already know what it is if you've been on the internet at all since 2005…

oOo

"Thank you for gathering on such short notice…" Alfred leaned forward on the round table in the Student Council room. "I appreciate the sacrifices you all made to show up to school earlier than normal. I, myself, gave up my usual morning stop to McDonalds to order the—"

"Just get on with it, git!"

Alfred shot his Treasurer a look before returning his attention to the rest of the council and their three guests.

"As of today, I officially recognize and sanction the use of the World Academy Police Force, led by Commissioner Vargas!" the blonde boldly declared.

There was a short applause, the majority of the group hoping they could finally leave before this turned into another long-winded meeting. Their dreams were cruelly dashed when the main doors burst open suddenly. Roderich stormed inside, not pleased about the new development or the fact that he heard about it secondhand.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded.

"Just making our new police force official," Alfred shrugged.

"We don't need a police force!"

"Oh, but we do," Lovino smirked, tossing the angry Austrian a copy of his bullying report and the online survey Kiku had helped him with. "Read it and weep, bastard."

"Th-This is preposterous!" Roderich exclaimed, leafing through the papers.

"Our advisor made me add a small clause of limiting the actual violence, if that's what you're so worried about," the Hero laughed.

"What I'm worried about is why you chose to leave it in the hands of Lovino and those three!"

"Us?" Gilbert pretended to look shocked.

"We are nothing, but fine, upstanding students looking to make a positive change!" Francis feigned offense.

"Yeah, so you can relax, amigo~!" agreed Antonio.

"I demand a real explanation!" Roderich glared at the Italian and the three seniors standing in a simple formation behind their Commissioner.

"It's for the good of the school," Lovino crossed his arms.

"Si, and I wanted to help Lovi~!" his cousin smiled, hugging him.

"It counts as extra credit for my Civil Rights class," shrugged the albino.

"And I'm in it for the handcuffs," Francis winked, expertly twirling a pair on one finger.

"There you have it," Alfred chuckled at the speechless Roderich. "I trust there are no other objections?"

Surprisingly, it was Kiku who stepped forward. Everyone around the table stared at him.

"I apologize, but I must be very adamant about the World Academy Police Force having similar uniforms as Commissioner Vargas."

"But we already have the same school uniform…" Lovino replied, confused.

"That's not what I meant," Kiku smiled, reaching for something under the table. "I was talking about…this!"

Kiku pulled out the finished Student Council Police Commissioner trench coat he had been overseeing with the help of Feliks and the fashion club. Jaws dropped as the Japanese student held it up proudly. It was a dark blue (almost black), medium-length trench coat with shiny silver buttons. The buckled sleeve straps had been replaced with a button-version, to match the front side and epaulettes. Similar to the regular school uniform, the World Academy crest was stitched onto the left side of the jacket, just under the storm flap, right around the area where the wearer's heart would be. It was simple enough not to draw too much attention, but classy enough to demand respect. Lovino groaned and covered his face with his hands. He had been hoping they all forgot about that stupid plan. Alfred's eyes twinkled in excitement. It was exactly what he had imagined!

"That is so awesome, bro!" the blonde slapped Kiku on the back. "You're a genius!"

"I had help," the black-haired boy regarded the President. He then turned his attention to Lovino. "You should try it on. Feliks and the others worked so hard on it."

"I don't want to, rice bastard."

"You have to, you have to!" Alfred and Antonio urged him on eagerly.

"Huh, I've never worn a trench coat before," Gilbert stroked his chin, as if in deep thought. "I want to see how it looks on someone else first. I can't wear one if it's unawesome."

Lovino sighed, drooping his head. He realized it was already a lost battle, so he took the coat from Kiku and slid it on. Not surprisingly, it fit perfectly and complimented his eyes nicely. Lovino moved his arms around to test its mobility. The others around him clapped.

"That is sooooo cool!" Alfred exclaimed.

"Your primo is so proud," Antonio pretended to cry into his arm, while he snapped a picture on his phone with the other for Feli.

"The stitching is remarkable," Francis inspected one of the coat tails. The tsundere duo was quick to slap his hands away. "I'm very impressed. Feliks really outdid himself."

"No kidding! Kesesese!" the albino bellowed. "I want one too!"

Kiku agreed that the Bad Touch Trio each needed one, but it would have to be different than Lovino's, to distinguish them. As they began to talk about different cuts, Ludwig interrupted. He figured it would be best to bring them back on track before Roderich exploded.

oOo

Taking in the fact that the BTT were doing nothing useful except annoying Roderich and making the meeting last even longer, Lovino dismissed them. The trio saluted and said they'd do another sweep of the school on their way to class. Because they couldn't leave without making a scene, Gilbert stuck his tongue out at Roderich, Antonio glomped his cousin in farewell, and Francis gave Arthur a surprise peck on the lips. By the time they finally walked out, the meeting room was in chaos again.

"So are we doing another bet for Homecoming this year?" Gilbert asked his two best friends.

"Ooh! We have to!" Antonio chirped, recalling last year's bet that ended with them all dressing like secret agents. In the ensuing dart gun fight, Gilbert accidentally knocked Roderich into the punch bowl and proceeded to break the rest of the table in his attempts to escape Elizabeta.

"I was hoping you'd say that…" Francis had an evil glint in his eye. "As it turns out, I have the perfect incentive…"

The others could only stare in awe at what Francis slowly pulled out of his book bag.

"W…What in the hell is that?" Gilbert asked.

"Aww! Those are the kitty ears that Lovi wore at the first Class Rep meeting this year!" Antonio cooed. "He looked so cute!"

"Indeed!" Francis held the cat ear headband with care. "I propose that the loser of our bet has to wear this!"

"Kesesese! That's pretty good," the albino unleashed his hiss-like laugh. "But what if there's more than one loser?"

"Oh, yeah," the Spaniard scratched his head. "That wouldn't work then, would it?"

Francis tried his best not to smirk. His precious, but dim-witted friends had fallen right into his trap.

"Oh, you're right…" He pretended to think it over. "What if the winner gets to choose the loser or losers' costumes for Homecoming, featuring this lovely headpiece?"

"Kesesese! Sounds awesome!"

"Count me in, too!"

"Now we just need a bet…"

At some urging on Francis's part, it was decided that the bet would be Antonio and Gilbert asking out their biggest crushes, as Francis was confident they couldn't do it (and he had already asked Arthur out). If one of them succeeded, he was safe, Francis had to wear the cat ears to the Homecoming dance, and the loser had to wear whatever the first two came up with. If they both lost, they had to wear whatever Francis decided. If they both won and were able to ask out their crush (whether the crush said yes or no didn't matter), they both got to come up with Francis's costume.

The blonde was confident he'd win this bet with ease. He knew that when it came to Bella, Antonio could barely speak normally, much less ask her out. The whole teacher-student combo proved to be another inhibiting factor. Then there was Gilbert and Matthew, who recently did become official. This also didn't faze Francis, who knew all about his albino's friend's newfound fears of Matthew's brother. Gilbert might be able to ask Matthew out on a private date, but there was no way he'd be brave enough to ask him out to a school dance that Alfred would be attending too. When it came down to it, Antonio's date was too impossible and Gilbert's was too scary.

Francis chuckled. He had this bet in the bag. Both his friends would chicken out and he'd find the most embarrassingly elaborate Homecoming costumes in all of existence.

oOo

Antonio had been all fired up after the bet was made, but actually following through with it was another story. He felt butterflies in his stomach anytime he even set foot in the culinary arts wing. The closer he got to the beautiful Belgian's classroom, the more flustered he got. He couldn't understand why. Working alongside Bell-Ms. Mertens was never so nerve-wracking before. By the time he made it to her door, his hand slipped on the doorknob from how sweaty it had gotten.

"He's going to choke," Francis said smugly from around the corner where he and Gilbert were watching.

"Way to cheer your friend on," Gilbert replied dryly.

"Don't fret, Gilbert!" Francis patted his shoulder. "Although you may be my temporary competition for this bet, we'll go back to being friends after I win and design some lovely costumes for Antoine and yourself! How do you feel about petticoats?"

The albino suddenly had second thoughts about this bet and crossed his fingers for his Spanish friend's sake. Antonio's teacher crush opened her classroom door and almost ran right into the brunette.

"O-Oh, h-hi, Professor Mertens!" Antonio stammered, feeling his face glow. He now felt slightly guilty for teasing his cousin about his tendency to blush easily.

"Can I help you with something?" She tilted her head to the side, allowing several curls of golden blond hair to tumble over her shoulder. Antonio tried not to stare.

"U-Uh, you see…I…"

"Would you like to come inside to talk about it?" asked Bella, noting his discomfort.

"Would you like to come to Homecoming with me?" he blurted out, fighting the urge to slap a hand over his mouth. When he didn't, the words continued to tumble out haphazardly. "It doesn't even have to be Homecoming, we could do coffee or lunch or whatever you want. B-Because I think you're really beautiful and talented and–"

"I'm sorry, Antonio, but I can't," she felt bad having to crush his spirits. "I'm a teacher here and you're still a student…"

"O-Oh. I see…" the curly-haired boy replied, deflated.

Around the corner, Gilbert and Francis felt for him. They knew he had fallen and fallen hard for the culinary arts professor. The rejection was going to sting twice as bad…

"Hey, don't look so sad!" Bella patted his shoulder. "You look your best when you smile~"

Even after that, Antonio tried his best to smile for her.

"That's more like it," she nodded and began to stroll off. "Oh, and Antonio?"

"Yes?"

"Come visit me after graduation and we'll see about that coffee."

"Alright! I definitely will!" He raced back over to his friends, overjoyed.

oOo

After another semi-productive Student Council meeting, Lovino returned to his locker to get ready for his first class of the day. He twisted the dial quickly until he heard the click of the lock opening. The Italian pulled open the door and three notes tumbled out, landing by his feet.

He sighed; it had been awhile since he's gotten written threats. There must be people out their pissed over his new rank. Lovino opened them just for the hell of it and was surprised. Instead of telling him to crawl in a ditch and die, the first one was a…thank you. The person who sent it was actually thanking him for standing up to the bullies from yesterday. Lovino was certain the writer wasn't Lily, but he or she had been able to relate to her. Only, when the writer was bullied by those boys, nobody came to the rescue. The mystery person wrote how relieved s/he felt with Lovino and his army looking out for people like them now.

"They're not my army…" Lovino put the letter down and rolled his eyes…but he felt a warm sensation wash over him.

He didn't know who wrote the letter and he or she was probably too shy to come forward, but it felt good to have somebody on his side for a change. Before this year, that never happened. The only people Lovino had in his corner was Feliciano and Antonio, both of whom he tried to keep in the dark for their own safety. Then, this year he met Alfred and everything changed…

Che cazzo! It's not like that! Lovino found himself arguing with…himself. I would have been fine without him! Things are just…slightly more bearable with everything he's done for me…Not that I asked him to or anything! Dammit!

Lovino quickly tore open the second letter to distract himself from his thoughts. It was another thank you letter from a previously bullied student. Judging by the curly letters that looked like they were ripped straight from a teenage girl's diary, Lovino assumed it was written by a girl… or a very feminine guy. Either way, the student expressed a lot of gratitude and was thankful to have Lovino around now. The tsundere tried to ignore the warm feeling when it returned, and opted to open the third letter. This one floored him…it was a written apology.

Lovino,

I just wanted to apologize to you. I'm sorry for everything I ever said, did, or thought about Iris Zeroes, no, about you. I see now that I was wrong about you. You're a good guy. I don't know how fast other people will change, but you convinced me not to badmouth people like you ever again. Keep it up.

Lovino nearly dropped the letter, but managed to pull himself together since there were others around. It wouldn't look good to have the World Academy Police Commissioner bawling at his locker over letters like a lovesick teenage girl. He still couldn't get over it. After years of classmates tormenting him, something as simple as an apology letter was unheard of. Lovino didn't need to know who wrote it or even hear the words spoken to him. Something like this was already more than he had ever hoped for after being revealed as an Iris Zero.

Smiling a little, Lovino tucked the three letters into his bag for safe-keeping. Maybe today wouldn't be as shitty as he originally thought.

oOo

Partially because of the bet and partially because he honestly just wanted to take his awesome boyfriend to Homecoming, Gilbert tried to get Alfred to warm up to the idea. He was sure he could convince the blonde now that he'd calmed down since the abrupt dating announcement awhile back. Being on the Police Force probably helped too. Gilbert wasn't as heroic as Alfred may approve of, but it was a start, right?

Gilbert managed to track Alfred down at his locker, with visions of dancing with his Birdie in his head. He would be wearing an awesome Teutonic Knights uniform and Matthew would be wearing a Mounties uniform that emphasized his—nevermind.

Focus! Gilbert mentally shouted at himself. Focus, or no more googling RCMP uniforms during Algebra. No matter how good Matthew looks in Red Serge and – Scheiße! Focus!

"Hey, there Herr Präsident!" he greeted him brightly. "How's it going?"

"Look, if this is important, spit it out. Otherwise, I'm busy."

Gilbert couldn't help but be slightly freaked out by the uncharacteristic irritation flowing from the blonde. It was like a behind the scenes look at a cranky old man who dressed up like the Easter bunny in the local shopping mall every year. Only less alcohol and more unbridled anger management issues.

"Uh, actually, it's not all that important!" the albino scratched his neck nervously. "Good luck with whatever you're doing there. Kesesese!"

Gilbert bailed as soon as he got the chance. He was convinced that Alfred still had it in for him. The albino never would have guessed that the real reason behind the Hero's anger was because he hadn't been able to find someone qualified to help him convince Lovino to go to Homecoming, in the event that his pep rally speech failed. A quick glance above Gilbert's head had showed Alfred that the senior wasn't qualified, so he didn't want to waste his time talking to him. If he waited much longer, he'd lose his window and Lovi would never go. That thought depressed him all over again.

Sure, he had an awesome speech planned out for the pep rally that was starting in less than twenty minutes, and yeah, he had worked extra hard on it to inspire everyone to go (particularly a stubborn Italian he knew), but Alfred was afraid it wouldn't be enough.

He made his way to the auditorium with his head hung low.

Backstage he ran into Ludwig, which wasn't all that surprising. Normally, the entire Student Council would be present with him on the stage, but not this time. Ludwig volunteered after Arthur flat-out refused, Lovino opted to handle crowd control with his three minions, and Kiku seemed deathly ill after reading a budget report that Alfred had yet to see himself.

"I'm glad you made it here early, Alfred," the German greeted him. "Are you ready to give your speech?"

"Yeah, sure…" the American responded sluggishly. By now all the fiery anger had left him to make way for gloomy melancholy.

Ludwig noticed the depressed state of his classmate right away and became alarmed. He couldn't let the school see their President like this. Not after how hard they worked to gain everyone's respect! This would dampen all their efforts thus far! It would make it impossible for Ludwig to convince himself that it had been worth embarrassing himself and his title in search of a tiny woodland creature during their last assignment. With no one else around, it was up to him to raise Alfred's spirits…but how?

"H…How 'bout them Yankees?" he felt himself begin to sweat, hoping he worded the obnoxiously American phrase properly.

"How should I know…?" Alfred shrugged. "Baseball season doesn't start until March…"

"O-Oh," Ludwig winced. How was he supposed to know? He was more of a football/soccer fan.

"I guess I should head out there…" the Hero sighed. "Might as well get this over with…"

Ludwig stood in front of him, wracking his brain as to what the hell could be causing the normally happy-go-lucky blonde to be so down. Alfred looked like a kicked puppy the way he was sulking over…whatever. Ludwig quickly and methodically went over a list of possibilities in his head.

Could someone have insulted him and hurt his feelings? …No, Alfred hangs out with Lovino and Arthur on a regular enough basis to gain an immunity to that. Did someone pick a fight with him? …No, Alfred doesn't appear to be physically injured and would be able to hold his own in a fistfight. What in the name of wurst could have broken his spirit like this?!

Little did he know the source of Alfred's pain was currently on the other side of the stage, cursing out his brother, promising great physical pain to Antonio, and threatening to take away Francis's handcuffs if the trio didn't do their job right at the pep rally. Instead, Ludwig had to focus on finding a way to boost the President's morale, since he couldn't figure out what was depressing him so. He wished Feliciano was here. This was more his area of expertise…

"Keep it together, Alfred!" he barked. "Remember what Captain America always stood for – Truth, Justice, uh, Responsibility, and the American Way! That's what this school needs you to stand for right now!"

Alfred stared at him unblinkingly for a full minute. His brain was still trying to untangle the meaning behind Ludwig's massacre of Superman, not Captain America's, famous slogan (good thing he wasn't one of those hardcore DC versus Marvel fanboys). When he finally realized his German friend was trying to cheer him up, he did just that. He had to get his act together if he was going to convince Lovino to go to the Homecoming dance. In addition to Lovino, the whole school was turning to him to set the school spirit bar higher than the sky itself. The Hero in Alfred couldn't let them down!

"Thanks, dude! I needed that!" Alfred punched him in the shoulder. "Now I'm all kinds of motivated! I think I'll go out there and give the best damned Homecoming speech ever!"

Ludwig sighed in relief. Maybe all those ridiculous action movies his older brother forced him to watch were worth it after all.

Alfred made his way to the stage. If this was his last chance to convince Lovino to go to the dance, he would sieze the opportunity and kill this speech. Chatter dwindled down and gradually everyone's eyes fell on the blonde standing behind the podium with the school crest carved into it. Alfred waved to Lovino, who stubbornly refused to wave back. Several other students were all too happy to wave back to the American. Alfred slowly cleared his throat, straightened his notecards, and tossed them over his shoulder.

"Snape kills Dumbledore!" Alfred began dramatically, ignoring the shocked look of his audience (and Arthur's angry outburst of "Dammit, Moon Moon!"). "Now that I have your attention, I'd like to talk to you all about Homecoming…"

"And we have our headline…" Elizabeta snickered quietly while she recorded Alfred's speech for the school paper.

"Homecoming is a time for our school to come together by working hard, volunteering, and supporting each other as we prepare for the future!" Alfred carried on. "It is a time to celebrate our achievements and uphold traditions that have set our school apart from the rest…like how our football team always stomps our opponents into the ground every Homecoming game!"

Several football players let out loud woops at this.

"Homecoming unites the past and the present! It means coming home to what is in your heart!" Alfred went on. "So while we all like to get dressed up for the dance each year, that's not why we go. Look around you, we all look great every day! Our Homecoming dance is neither an exception nor a shock. We are all a bunch of incredibly good-looking people!"

Several bouts of laughter spread through the auditorium. Alfred winked at Lovino, who went from tan to scarlet in seconds. He very quickly made himself busy breaking up an imaginary fight, so he wouldn't have to make eye-contact with the blonde.

"We go to Homecoming because we are celebrating our school and our extended school family! We invite people special to us because they are the ones closest to our hearts! We hold on to this tradition every year because it brings our school, community, and everyone inside it together!" Alfred proclaimed. "And if that's not what Homecoming is about, then Wikipedia is a liar and my English teacher is going to kill me for using them as a reference in this speech!"

A stream of laughter flowed throughout the crowd again.

"But in all seriousness, I'm proud to be a student at World Academy and I'm happy to share that experience with all of you," Alfred beamed. "We don't even realize how fast our time in school together goes until we're walking up to get our diplomas on our final day of school. I sincerely hope that you come to both the game tonight and the dance tomorrow. Traditions like these help bring us together and celebrate the time we have at World Academy."

The laughter ceased and the moist eyes began to spring up, especially from the senior students.

"And it makes for a good excuse to throw a party!" Alfred fist-pumped the air. "I hope to see you all there! Go Lions!"

The room exploded into cheers and applause as their Student Council President strutted off the stage.

oOo

After the rally, Lovino had allowed his brother to drag him down to the gymnasium to help out. Feliciano had volunteered to work on decorations, specifically the art pieces. When he realized they needed extra help to get everything done in time, he roped his talented brother in. Lovino had hoped that because it was the last place on earth anyone would suspect him to be, he would be safe from a certain blonde puppy dog who kept pestering him to go to Homecoming. He was wrong.

Alfred's Lovino-Radar had yet to fail him.

"Hey, Lovino! Loviiiiinoooo!" a familiar voice called out from the opposite end of the gymnasium. "Lovi~!"

"What the hell do you want, Moon Moon?" Lovino spat back, not pleased with the nickname.

"I wanted to see what you thought of my speech," Alfred grinned, jogging over.

"Ve~! It was really good!" Feliciano interjected. "Right, fratello?"

"Cheh, it was alright…for a hamburger bastard."

"So did it inspire you to do anything different?" the blonde nudged his friend's shoulder. "Like join your buddies at a certain event tomorrow?"

"Now that you mention it…I felt the strangest urge to deck the next idiot who asked me about that!" Lovino pretended to feel waves of dramatic inspiration and balled his fist. "Hold very still, bastard…"

"Loviiiii…" his brother wrapped his arms around him, ceasing his efforts.

"Please say you'll go, Lovino," Alfred looked distraught. "I wrote the part about taking the people closest to our hearts just for you…"

"Y-You what?" the brunette felt his own heart skip a beat, although he tried to convince himself that Alfred had been referring to all his friends, not just the Italian.

"And all Student Council members have free admittance to school events like this…" Alfred reminded him. "If you stick by me, I promise I'll chase off anyone who tries to give you a hard time. You can count on the Hero to protect you!"

The combination of puppy eyes from both Alfred and Feliciano was nearly paralyzing.

"Fine, I'll go to the damned dance!" the tsundere raked a hand through his hair. "But only because you two morons won't shut up about it!"

They cheered and squished Lovino in a group hug.

"I'll go, but I'm not going to dress up like an idiot with the rest of the school!" he snarled, struggling to free himself from the hug-fest.

"You could wear a tomato crate for all I care," laughed Alfred. "The important thing is that you're going!"

"I-I just said I'm not doing costumes," Lovino blushed. "I'll just wear my damned uniform."

"You at least have to wear a suit or you won't get in," insisted Feliciano.

"By who?" he was tempted to remind his little brother the police here answer to him.

"By me," Feli retorted in a matter-of-fact, end-of-discussion tone. Seconds later, his face morphed back into happy-mode. "Now then, what are we going to do about the decorations for the gym?"

Alfred watched Lovino flit around the room, working on different projects. He knew his friend was trying to find the least conspicuous job to do to keep his 'low profile' thing, but was impressed that Lovi could effortlessly finish one project and pick up another with the same amount of ease.

"You're a real Jack-of-all-trades, you know that?" Alfred grinned, walking up to him.

"I had to be," Lovino set down a box of tree branches. "I grew up without an Iris, remember?"

"What's that got to do with it?"

"I had to fill that void with something, so I took up lots of different hobbies."

"You're giving Irises too much credit. They aren't always something all that special," Alfred recalled Mr. Machado's Iris about seeing what a person ate, another about seeing favorite animals, and one about predicting lucky numbers without any context for why they were lucky.

"You can say that because you've always had one, Lovino rolled his eyes. "Any Iris would have been better than nothing."

"But you don't need one. I think you're already cool enough without one."

"That's not how the world works, bastard," the Italian sighed. "When I was a kid I tried learning everything from lock-picking to violin...anything I thought would make my parents happy."

Alfred still didn't completely get it. If he had a kid half as awesome as Lovino, he'd be so proud; he'd give him or her a national holiday.

"Did it help?" was all he asked.

"No, it didn't," the brunette forced a chuckle. "I never really took to anything, so I only learned how to be halfway decent in a bunch of things instead of mastering a particular skill."

"If you think you're only halfway decent at identifying Irises, solving mysteries, and picking locks, I look forward to the day you think you've mastered them because you'll probably be in the CIA or something!" Alfred laughed. "But seriously, don't let stuff like that get you down. You're absolutely perfect the way you are."

"Says who?"

"Says me," the blonde pointed to himself with a grin. "And I'm the President, which means I'm always right."

"I-Idiota..."

oOo

Gilbert was still torn on asking Matthew to go to the dance. Birdie's brother was a lot scarier than the albino would like to admit. That kid didn't know his own strength when he was in a good mood; forget how batshit crazy he might go when pissed off. Not even the threat of Francis forcing him to go by himself in some creepy costume was enough to get him to man up. It wasn't until Antonio, motivated by his own success, encouraged him to try anyway that Gilbert finally agreed.

And so, afterschool, Gilbert found himself marching up to Matthew's locker, tossing fear to the wind while his friends watched on like stalkers behind a separate corner. One silently cheered him on and the other tried to estimate how many pink ribbons could be tied onto the albino's silvery locks. Perhaps a wig would be a better way to go…

"B-Birdie!" Gilbert puffed out his chest, gathering his thoughts. It didn't really register until that moment that he didn't have any fancy invitation speech prepared. Crap.

"Yes?" Matthew turned around to face him and flashed those beautiful violet eyes that made a part of Gilbert's brain short-circuit and melt.

"Uh…" the albino snapped himself out of his daze. "I'm really awesome!"

His friends face-faulted around the corner. Gilbert's delivery was about as smooth as a raging porcupine.

"…Okay?" the soft-spoken blonde nodded.

"Verdammt…" Gilbert squeezed his ruby eyes shut, slightly embarrassed. "W-What I'm trying to say is that even though I'm really awesome, I can't save the Homecoming dance from being totally unawesome, unless I have you there with me!"

Antonio shot him a thumbs-up; Francis shook his head at his friend's attempted recovery.

"So would you go with me?" Gilbert gave him a lopsided grin.

"I'd love to," Matthew smiled and hugged him.

"Well, that's a relief, since I already bought you a ticket and everything," he laughed, kissing his boyfriend lightly on the forehead. "And just so you know, I'm fully prepared to deal with your crazy overprotective brother!"

His date smiled and shook his head, waves of blonde curls swishing to each side. Gilbert didn't know it, but Matthew had secretly been planning for a situation like this. More accurately, he had begun preparing for this day since he was about seven years old and dreamed about going to a fancy party like this. He wasn't going to let eight and a half years worth of dreams and problem-solving go down the drain because his brother had a tendency to turn into an overprotective mama bear when his family wasn't actually in any danger.

"Just leave Alfred to me…"

By the time the Bad Touch Trio was reunited, Antonio clapped Gilbert on the shoulder, happy for his friend. The self-proclaimed Prussian thanked him and shot Francis a devious grin. The Frenchman was horrified when Gilbert reminded him of their bet.

"Hehe…Perhaps I can wear the costume another time?" he tried to convince them to change their minds. "It would be a crime to prevent me from showering others in my magnificent presence and beauty with my traditional justacorps apparel!"

"Kesesese! Well now you can shower your magnificence in cat ears and a French maid uniform!"

"What?!" Francis shrieked in horror.

"With heels and lacy stockings," Antonio added.

"Ooh. Yes, that. Heels and lacy stockings too!"

"B-But…"

"Keep whining and we'll add a garter belt!"

Francis wisely kept his mouth shut; however he couldn't stop the silent tears from flowing. He had the worst friends ever!

oOo

A/N – See? I promised we'd get them all at the dance come hell or high water! Next chapter will cover how well/insane that night goes.

And holy crap, I'm so ready to be done with speeches. Lovino's last chapter and Alfred's in this chapter kept giving me terrible flashbacks to awkward speeches I was forced to give for various classes throughout school. Ugh. I would feel like America while writing them and then like Canada when actually giving them…We won't even get into the fits of Romano I would go into after the horrible speeches were finally over, haha.

And does World Academy even have a mascot? I couldn't find one, so I just made one up. Since lions are famous icons across Europe, Asia, and Africa, popular worldwide, and often used to symbolize strength and nobility, I figured that would work. If there actually is a canon critter that represents the school, please tell me so I can fix Alfred's crazy speech. Thanks!

-Rajikka

Translations

Tsundere – A type of character seen in anime or manga known for appearing cold or hostile, but having a hidden sweet side. "Tsun Tsun" is the aloof or irritable side, while "Dere Dere" is the lovey dovey side. (Jp.)

Bastardo – Bastard (It.)

Amigo – Friend (Sp.)

Primo – Cousin (Sp.)

Che cazzo – What the fuck (It.)

Verdammt – Dammit (Ger.)

Scheiße – Shit (Ger.)

Herr Präsident – Mr. President (Ger.)

Fratello – Brother (It.)

Justacorps – Fancy French jacket worn in the 1600s