A/N: Well, this is the second to last chapter and the next one should be the final one. That will probably be posted as soon as I finish it (which should be around next week, depends on how fast I finish it. Either way, I hope you've enjoyed the story thus far and look forward to the ending! Thanks for reading!

Chapter 7: November 7th

"Mattie, are you sure that you're okay?"

Roused from his daydream, Matthew shot up into sitting straight up. He blinked a few times before looking over at Gilbert who was sitting next to him with his laptop open to a paused let's play video. He was patiently waiting for an answer, arms crossed and face towards Matthew. They were in the lounge, a cozy little area in front of the main entrance that had couches and a fireplace. Currently, they were both waiting to catch sight of Lovino and Antonio, ready to execute their last plan. One that Matthew had promised Gilbert would be their final try.

Matthew had been staring out the window absentmindedly, thinking through everything on his mind. Mainly what both Lovino and Alfed had told him and trying to sort through his slew of emotions. Shaking his head, he slid down until he was almost eye level with Gilbert again.

"I'm okay, don't worry. I just have a lot on my mind."

"Like?" Gilbert shut his laptop, setting it on the small table next the couch they were sitting on.

"Uh… I-I don't really want to talk about it…"

Gilbert sighed, looking towards the stairs and glancing outside briefly. He seemed to get a determined look in his eyes before looking back towards Matthew and giving him a shy-looking smile. "No pressure, I just wanted to make sure."

Matthew nodded and breathed out in relief. He was about to go back to looking out the window when Gilbert started talking again.

"Actually, Mattie…"

"Huh?" Matthew turned back to look at Gilbert, a questioning look on his face. Gilbert just smiled a little more and lightly grabbed a hold of Matthew's hand. "Gilbert?"

He felt more than confused at the way Gilbert was looking at him, eyes darting between his hand in Gilbert's grasp and the other's face. "I hope that this doesn't seem sudden… but, what exactly do you, huh, think about me?"

Matthew fumbled for words for a bit, eyes focusing on their hands before he actually found his voice to answer. "Well… you're a really nice person, and a good friend… You care more than people think you do and pay way more attention to them than everyone gives you credit for. Even though you act brash and crude, you're really a sweet pers-"

"Wait, I'm not sweet. Where did you get that from?" Gilbert interrupted him, making Matthew blush. His ears even felt hot for crying out loud! What in the world did this guy mean to him? Was Lovino right in pegging it as a romantic feeling instead of a platonic one? Even Alfred who was clueless to this stuff had noticed something. "And anyways that wasn't exactly what I was asking you about…"

Confused, Matthew turned just enough to plop down correctly in the seat. "What do you mean?"

Gilbert smiled a bit before squeezing Matthew's hand. "Do you like me? Like, more than a friend?"

"What?" Gilbert hadn't actually said that had he? Eyes opening wider, he looked away, quickly taking his hand from Gilbert's grasp.

"Too soon?"

Nodding, Matthew blushed harder. Okay, maybe what Lovino had said held some kind of truth to it. This was getting ridiculous and both of them should have been looking out for when Lovino got back. They should be notifying Antonio to come out of his room at just the right time to get the two to run into each other. They should not be talking about whatever they were talking about as if they were going to get together. Matthew didn't even know what exactly he felt. "Can we talk about this at a later time?"

"But, Mattie, I—"

"Gilbert," Matthew looked up at him, making the other freeze for a moment, "please. I don't have an answer. We should focus on Antonio and Lovino."

Gilbert frowned, standing up and walking few steps. "Really? We've been waiting for an hour for them. I thought it'd be a great time to finally clear the air and figure out where I stand with you. Mattie, you seriously haven't noticed anything? You haven't felt anything around me?" Matthew looked down, feeling a pang in his chest that resounded in his jaw. "Have you been so focused on helping those around you that you haven't looked at yourself?"

"Gil..."

They both looked towards the stairs at the sound of someone coming down them. Sighing out, Gilbert glanced at him and spoke very quickly, "Mattie, I really do like you. But, you have to consider your own feelings before those of others."

Matthew tried laughing it off, but it didn't work. He knew that if there were three people telling him the same thing, then he had to reevaluate something.

~ooXoo~

It was getting even colder now that it was later into the semester. So cold that it had started snowing sometime after his last class had started and ended. Unfortunately for him, Lovino had left behind his thicker winter coat and had to suffer through three of his classes sitting very close to Antonio. That had made his mood drop significantly during the day. He had finally finished for the day and was ready to just collapse on his bed, only leaving it for food if he could. There was no way that he was going to be dragged out for anything after getting back to his dorm.

Letting out a puff of air just to watch his breath form a cloud, he stopped to readjust his backpack before opening the main door to the dormitories. He was really looking forward to being warm and just relaxing. Ignoring Antonio wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. Then again, they had been friends for so long that there were times when they would unconsciously interact with each other and not even notice that they were doing it. Which was bad for him since he never noticed it until he was halfway into doing the actions or notion.

As soon as he was in all the way through the door, he heard something moving towards him way before it got to him but couldn't do much before it already on top of him and shoving him backwards. "Woah, wait! What the fuck is going on?"

"This is for your guys' own good." He heard what he hoped wasn't Gilbert speaking. "If you don't sort this out this way, then I don't know how the fuck you guys will."

"What?"

Oh no. This was not how he was planning the end of his day to be like. This was definitely not what he was expecting.

"Ow, Gil! Why are you me pushing outside?"

…crap. Not Antonio too… Just when he thought he was safe from having to be around him…

It didn't take long for Gilbert and whoever was helping him to push him outside with enough force to stumble down the sidewalk and send powdery snow flying everywhere. As soon as he caught his footing, Lovino turned around to retort. He saw Antonio gaping at him and Matthew standing at the door with Gilbert. "Matthew?"

"I'm sorry, Lovino, but this is the only way we can actually get you guys to talk to each other." Matthew said seriously.

"You two won't actually leave us out here. It's fucking negative two degrees out!" Lovino yelled, pointing at Antonio. "And why in the world is it with him, dammit?"

"You two have some serious talking to do," Gilbert added, "and you've both been avoiding it like the plague." He was about to say otherwise, when Matthew started talking as well.

"And we're not letting you two inside until you settle things completely!" With that they closed the door, making Lovino stare at them not really comprehending what had just happened.

When he realized that Matthew and Gilbert were going to leave him outside with Antonio, he started hitting the door with more force, yelling at the two he knew were just on the other side. "Fuck you guys, let us back in! I'm not staying out here with this bastard!"

Lovino couldn't hear a thing. The only noises were his own breathing and soft puffs of air from behind him. He wasn't going to turn around and look at the Spaniard; he was just going to ignore him. Scowling, he kicked at the door, sinking down to the ground. Why couldn't anyone understand that when he had yelled about not wanting anything to do with Antonio, he had meant it? It hadn't meant 'help us mend our friendship,' it hadn't meant 'fix us.' It meant 'I'm done with him.'

"Lovino?" The tone sounded cautious, as if it was testing the waters before diving in from somewhere it couldn't return from. Lovino shook his head, stood up, and made to leave. He could probably take shelter in one of the campus coffee shops until curfew hit. "Lovi-"

"Shut up." He still hadn't turned around, couldn't tell where Antonio was. He could still be frozen in place from being shoved outside for all he knew. "I'll repeat myself if you couldn't get it through your head the first time: I don't care if I've known you since we were kids, I don't want anything to do with you. Forget you even know me if you want. I. Don't. Care." Of course, this wasn't exactly true. He did care. The sensation of Antonio's lips on his was still there. He began to walk off again, only to be tackled down into the snow on the ground. He could feel the cold seep into his blazer and sweater, feel heat on his back, and warm air against the side of his neck. This wasn't something he was expecting, and it made him even madder that Antonio would try that shit. "Get off of me."

"No, I'm not moving."

"Antonio, get the fuck off of me."

"No. Not until you listen to me. Not until this whole thing is settled."

Lovino scowled. Did no one listen to him when he said he was done with Antonio? It wasn't that hard to understood, was it? He immediately pushed himself off the ground, taking Antonio by surprise and making him cry out. As soon as he felt Antonio's weight off of him, he flipped over and was about to stand up and bolt before he felt a hand grab his ankle.

"Why do you not want to hear me out? Did I do something that's unforgivable?"

"You asshole, of course you fucking did! And you know damn well what it was!" Lovino angrily told him, unsuccessfully trying to yank his ankle away.

"Do I? The last time we talked, and that wasn't even talking, you just said you wanted nothing to do with me at all. No explanation. And before you just called me an asshole and left. Want do you want me to believe? All I did was try to—"

"To make fun of me and ridicule me! Wasn't it? By trying to make light of a serious topic for your own damn amusement!" Lovino scoffed, watching Antonio's shocked reaction to his words. Was he that stupid? Antonio shook his head, bringing himself to his knees.

"You think I did that for a laugh?" Lovino nodded, frowning. "Don't you think that maybe that was something very important to me? That I had used a lot of courage to finally get the nerve to say something about how I felt to you?"

"As if you'd ever actually fall in love with me. Let's face it straight on, right now," Lovino stood up, looking down at Antonio. "You might like me, but it's not the same fucking way that I do, you asshole." He hadn't realized what he had said until he saw the look of utter disbelief on the Spaniards face. As Antonio slowly stood up, Lovino silently cursed and took a step bad. "Fuck. I…"

"Lovino…" Antonio breathed out. "You like me? As in, you like me more than a friend?"

He could feel a rock fall to the bottom of his stomach making him swallow and look away from Antonio. What in the world was he thinking just saying that out loud and putting himself out in the open like that? He couldn't let Antonio know how much that had affected him.

"Lovi, please look at me." Antonio's voice sounded way closer than it had been just a few seconds ago. "Lovi?"

"Don't call me that," he whispered, heart beating way to fast as he tried to move further back. Unfortunately, he hadn't noticed that as he was moving back he was moving right into the trunk of a tree.

"Lovino, please." He felt Antonio's hand under his chin, gently nudging it upwards. He let his head be moved but kept his eyes focused on something off to the side so he didn't have to look at Antonio's eyes. "If you really mean that, do you know how happy that would make me?"

"What?" Lovino asked softly, glancing towards Antonio but being caught off guard by how close to him he really was.

"I really meant what I said that day. I like you. I know we've known each other for such a long time, and I'm not joking around with my feelings for you…" Lovino gulped hearing those words coming from Antonio's mouth. Why in the world would someone like Antonio (who the girls compared to a prince charming) like someone like Lovino who was crude and had the mouth to match it? Cautiously, he tried to make Antonio move away from by stepping closer, but it didn't work, Antonio stubbornly staying in the same spot.

"Okay, where's the camera? This is a prank, isn't it?" Lovino looked around, trying to make it seem like the crack in his voice right then hadn't happened.

"What's going to finally convince you that I'm being serious, Lovino?" Antonio almost yelled, making Lovino look him straight in the eyes. "I'm sorry if it feels that way, but I've been in love with you, Lovino Vargas, since we were little!"

Lovino just gaped at him, heart stopping in its tracks at how raw the expression on Antonio's face was. He wanted to frown, wanted to curse into his face, and at the same time he wanted to break down and let Antonio pull him close. Not putting any thought into it, he slid down the trunk of the tree, making Antonio start to babble and get down in a kneeling position.

"Ah, did I not say something right again?" Antonio muttered exhaling loudly, one hand running through his hair nervously. A motion he had seen many times, but never with such a distressed face. Lovino watched him, not saying anything. The quietness was nice, especially since everything in his mind was a whirlwind of chaos.

Turning away to not look at Antonio, Lovino spoke quietly, "so, that kiss… why did you apologize if you were being serious?"

"I thought you didn't want it," Antonio answered just as quietly, "You kind of rejected me that day…"

"You're an asshole." He shoved Antonio's shoulder, carefully keeping his eyes from meeting the other's.

"Huh?"

"If you meant it, then you shouldn't have apologized, you moron."

"Wait, then you—!"

Lovino finally looked up at him, smiling the tiniest amount, "yes, goddammit."

Antonio smiled, moving to hug Lovino. "I told you it would make me happy!" Taking a risk, Lovino gave him a quick kiss on the lips. He could feel his cheeks get warmer, watching Antonio's face grow brighter with joy. Despite wanting to stay mad at Matthew for everything that he had been forced into in an attempt to get him to talk to Antonio, he couldn't really anymore. And really, what would've happened if he hadn't meddled? Maybe, they never would have gotten around to talking about it. Well, sort of talking about it.

"That's in return for the one you took back."