Francis was still buzzing with excitement as he reached his apartment and let himself in. He was so excited, he didn't even notice that there was a pair of dark slippers next to the door.

Gilbert was nowhere to be found, which was nothing new. But there were two surprises.

First, even though it was noon, Antonio was not taking a siesta. As a matter of fact, he was sitting at the dining table, very much awake and glaring at Francis.

Second, Yao was there, sitting next to Antonio.

The second he saw Francis, Yao flew into a rage.

"What the hell were you thinking?" The petite Chinese man demanded, "Hyung-Soo told me you were going after Arthur! Did you go to his house?"

"Wha-?"

Yao grabbed Francis's shirt.

"Did you or didn't you go to his house?" Yao yelled, shoving his face up to Francis's.

Despite his petite frame, Yao was strong, shockingly so. With their close contact, Francis could feel strong muscles.

"Non," Francis whispered.

Yao breathed a sigh of relief, letting go of Francis.

"Relax, amigo," Antonio said, his voice unusually hard, "Even if Francis did end up-"

Yao spun around, glaring at Antonio, "Do you want another-"

"Of course not," Antonio said, "But you know, Arthur could always leave-"

"You don't understand," Yao snapped, "Some people… they just can't. That doesn't make them a bad person, but they need help."

"And what a 'help' you've been," Antonio said sarcastically.

Francis felt deeply disturbed. He had never seen this dark side of Antonio before.

"I'm trying!" Yao screamed, "Every anniversary I try to find him… once, he nearly-"

"Okay, amigo," Antonio said, raising his hands, "I get it."

"No, you don't!" Yao shouted, "Have you ever lost anyone? Your parents are both alive in Spain. All your younger siblings are doing some sort of aid program in Latin America, and they're all well! Lovino's okay, so is Feli- but Arthur-"

"You act like you understand," Antonio snapped, "What do you know? Always acting so pretentious-"

"I do know."

Yao's voice had changed from loud and furious to flat and cold.

"Did you know that Lovi and Feli had an uncle? His name was Romulus. He was only 13 when they were born, of course. His sister- she was only 12- had been messing around. Going to parties. Her parents almost threw her out, but he stopped them.

"The parents ended up drinking and gambling. Romulus tried, but he started getting into trouble. Then his little sister died in a car accident when she was 17. The parents were deadbeat. Wanted to give Feli and Lovi up to child services. Romulus took them in.

"We met at the supermarket. I suppose we were kindred spirits- I was trying to raise all of my younger siblings, he was trying to raise Feli and Lovi. We were both young, with dreams of our own but a sense of duty. Our parents had abandoned us.

"We ended up falling in love. And despite all of our problems, we were happy. Truly, honestly happy. He used to bring me blue salvia flowers all the time. You understand that, don't you, Antonio? Love? But do you know what it's like to lose someone? Because if you did, maybe you would be slower to dismiss my family and I. Maybe you wouldn't be as scornful of Arthur. And maybe you will be able to understand why we do the things we do."

Antonio remained silent.

Yao sighed wistfully. He was gazing out the window, his eyes fixated on the horizon.

"But," Yao murmured, smiling sadly, "I'm glad that you don't."

"Yao…" Francis whispered.

The Chinese man sighed, "Be careful with Arthur. And that goes for both of you."

Turning, he left the apartment, closing the door softly.

12/10/2016

And now a cameo from… past RomeChu!

I changed Rome's relationship to Feli and Lovi to make room for this ship. They're so cute together! Of course, RoChu is absolutely adorable as well! You see the hard choice I have to make here?

Sometimes I feel like China's the character that I sorta ship with everyone (India and China, Iggy and China, Mongolia and China, etc.)

But RoChu still wins the prize!