AN: New chapter.

Just so you guys know, I might not be able to update tomorrow until after eight. I have a drama club meeting after school until four and then I have church as well. We'll see how the schedule works out. But, I will definitely let you guys know what the meeting was about if you want to shoot me a message tomorrow about it.

To those who reviewed:

ThatRandomReview: Good luck with your testing!

Spamano4ever: I'm glad you liked it!

Enjoy

Well..this year wasn't too bad, Lovino mused after everyone had gone to sleep. He was curled up against Antonio again, listening to his steady heartbeat. He gave a faint smile. In fact...this year is probably one of my favorites.

With that, Lovino succumbed to sleep like the others.

The following morning, he woke up to quiet talking from the others.

"..still, it was nice to see him smiling again." Feliciano.

Lovino blinked slightly, looking over at his brother tiredly.

Feliciano grinned. "Lovi! You're up!"

Lovino nodded, pushing himself to sit up, rubbing at his eyes. "What time is it..?"he asked.

"Close to ten,"Antonio replied.

Lovino cursed. "What?! Why didn't one of you wake me?! I was supposed to go to work today!"
Feliciano laughed lightly. "Your boss called, told us to tell you to take the day off. You've worked yourself too much,"

Lovino relaxed slightly, shaking his head. "God..."he grumbled. "I'm not made to put up with stuff like that.."

Antonio chuckled. "You worry too much."he pointed out.

"Someone has to,"

Ludwig gave Lovino a soft smile. "Not constantly. Besides, after all that's happened? Let someone else worry for a while."

Lovino huffed. "Yeah, yeah."he grumbled.

Still, the day was nice.

_S&S_-

The days flew by and New Years eve brought around a lot of drama. The threat of the mafia was still hanging over Lovino. This time, it extended to Feliciano as well as himself. He came in from work, clutching a note in his hand. His eyes were dim as he got changed out of his work uniform and returned to the living room to sit with the others.

Antonio took the note from Lovino in silence and uncrumpled it, reading through it. "You're going...?"

Lovino was quiet for a moment before he spoke. "I have to."he responded. "Because I don't want you guys hurt, any of you."

Antonio looked at the note for a long while. "No."he finally said. "You aren't going. We're going to deal with this, and you are staying out of the brunt of it."

Gilbert took the note from Antonio and got up, disappearing into the kitchen in silence. They'd been waiting on this for days now.

Lovino let Antonio pull him into a tight hug and sighed.

Antonio could feel the faint shaking of his boyfriend, and frowned. He knew it was from fear, and he hated it.

Gilbert came back moments later, talking on the phone quickly. "Alright, thank you so much. I'll be down there in about an hour."

Without another word, the prussian hung up and grabbed his coat. "We're getting this taken care of. I'll be back soon."he said, pausing at the door to grab one of the guns that Ludwig and him had taken to leaving on the table near the front door, hiding it from view before he disappeared out the door.

It didn't even take Gilbert two hours to return with a bright grin on his face. "I just love how detailed people are in notes."he said. "Police are on the way to that meeting place now, Lovino. After this, it's all over."

Lovino gave a slight smile. Over. Sounds so nice.

Antonio noticed Lovino relax and half smiled. "You're ready for this all to end, aren't ya?"

Lovino nodded. He looked up at Gilbert. "Thank you."he said.

Gilbert shrugged, dropping the gun back where it had been and hanging his coat back up before returning to his seat beside Matthew. "You're welcome. Now quit stressing so much and enjoy your New Year's eve."

Five..four...three..two...one...

Lovino had been watching the clock for the last hour, watching the new year inch closer.

He smiled lightly when Antonio came up behind him and hugged him tightly. "Happy New Year, my love."

Lovino turned in the Spaniard's arms. "Happy New Year,"he responded, leaning up to steal a kiss from him.

Antonio smiled against his lips before he pulled back. "Te amo."

"..Ti amo."Lovino responded quietly, letting his head rest against Antonio's shoulder gently. "No matter what I say, I do love you."

Antonio chuckled. "Good."he mumbled.

It had turned into a nice evening for the group. The others were all currently laughing and joking. Lovino was happy with this quiet moment with Antonio. It was much sweeter and more meaningful. They'd become a lot more subdued with each other recently, instead of always joking and everything, the quiet moments like this meant much more to them.

Here you go.