Sorry for the huge delay in updating! This is more like a summer gift now, rather than a Secret Santa :(

One more chapter to come.

Gilbert was lying on the couch, trying to sleep. It wasn't easy. He could hear Lovino toss and turn on his bed too. Who knows what was bothering him. Maybe he was trying to find new ways of making him the laughing stock of everyone at the beach tomorrow, and could not sleep from excitement and anticipation. But who was he kidding? Deciding to vacation at the seaside while not being able to swim, he had it coming.

But, at least, he was a touch closer to his goal. Well, learning how to swim and almost drowning in a horrifyingly ridiculous way, or spending vacation time learning anything, really, was not his plan. But spending time with Lovino was.

His interest in Lovino had not stemmed directly by the guy's personality at first, even though Gilbert could now see that he was one of the most interesting characters the Prussian had met in his life. Nor was it his looks that that had captured Gilbert's attention so much. Sure, Lovino was a very good looking man. His eyes had a rare, beautiful golden shade, and his face had all the right angles. But there were a lot of beautiful people in the world, and the percentage of really handsome between nations was particularly high. No, it was Gilbert's own life circumstances that, after a weird sequence of events, led him look Lovino's direction.

It had all started when the Berlin Wall fell. Gilbert had thought everything was over, and it was peculiar for him that he actually had a chance to see Ludwig again. It must have been a pretty weird sight, Ludwig crying, hugging Gilbert tight, Feliciano at his side trying to console him, and Gilbert just feeling astonished to even be there, too shocked to show any emotion.

The period after that had also been traumatic. Gilbert, and everyone around him, acted like he could be gone within the moment. Nothing would have made Gilbert really look around him then and seek for a long-term relationship. He would go out, and drink, and dance, and do anything he thought he might miss as a goner.

When years kept passing though, and it became clear that Gilbert was not dying, or decaying, or getting old as a human would, or when he didn't show any signs of losing anything his nationhood included (other than the nation itself), he began to act differently. He began getting out of that haze and actually seeing around him. Up until then, he had not given any deeper thoughts on the relationship between Ludwig and Feliciano, even if it was impressive at its duration and stability through extremely troubling times. But now he could see. And feel jealous. And think that since he had no nation, and thus no serious job, he should at least want to make his life a happy one.

His brother had found someone to make him happy and content. This someone was also talented, and handsome, and sweet, and who could ever find another so good and heartwarming? When initial jealousy run out though, Gilbert could discern that Feliciano might have been perfect for his little brother, proper and law-abiding Ludwig, but he was probably too mild and cutesy for himself. And Gilbert, in his awesomeness, would probably have been a touch too exciting for little Feli, and could not offer the little Italian either the stability or the discrete and constant guidance Ludwig did.

Gilbert needed someone different. Someone ready to break the rules not only because he did not care for them, but because he had fun doing so. Someone who liked to have a fight when he disagreed with other people over things. Someone caring, but not with everybody, just with the people he was truly interested in.

So he made this perfect image of a person in his mind. And one day, at a European Nations meeting, he noticed that Lovino had fought hard for retaining funding for his agriculture, and had laughed at Ludwig's face when he had asked for quiet, and then went as far as to lie to England that France had been laughing behind his back over his cooking, and Gilbert then witnessed Lovino lay back on his chair and enjoy the mess that ensued. He also saw infamously prickly Lovino look at Feliciano with mild jealousy, but also pride and adoration, when Feli was showing his new paintings to Portugal on his tablet, and then kiss Belgium's cheek goodbye with such a cheeky, flirting smirk on his face. And in that meeting, he decided Lovino was far more interesting than he had thought so far, and he could finally put a face on his perfect mate description.

He had tried repeatedly to be in Lovino's company, but his chances were not many. He bumped into him on several occasions in Antonio's house, but Lovino would always leave them alone, as if they had something extremely important to talk about. Well, Gilbert had something extremely important to talk about, but not with Lovino's occasionally axe-wielding best friend. The same went with Feliciano. Whenever he found the two of them together, Lovino would demand that Gilbert depart, so that he could spend some time alone with his brother. And then there were all those official meetings and dinners, and he could never do anything there but admire from afar, because Spain was there, and Feliciano (who would out him without a second thought if he found out), and those other, gossip-hungry nations. Gilbert couldn't care less, but his Italian did not enjoy being in the spotlight like that.

The only person who knew about Gilbert's troubles was Ludwig. Sweet little brother! Ludwig had even kept the secret from Feliciano, mostly of course because he knew that should the truth come out, Lovino would have a bitch fit so grand, it would affect Ludwig's seeing Feli for some time. Ludwig, who would give Gilbert such a look of combined disapproval and pity when he would catch him look at Lovino. Ludwig, whose grand move was to secure this vacation for his brother, and kept fingers crossed it would not all go to hell.

Damn, it was weird pursuing someone who would not trust his shadow and knowing that any wrong move would make him withdraw for ages, and moreover, having to rely on your baby brother for setting up meetings. It was also infuriating, as Lovino's secret qualities were revealing themselves more and more to Gilbert's now keen and attentive eye, making Gilbert more and more interested. The Prussian was feeling useless, especially since his "tactics" specialty seemed to have gone rusty.

All Gilbert could do at the moment was agreeing to swimming lessons. Almost risking his life for a romantic cause! He could not recognize himself. But if he had a chance, it was this one. He should use all of his best powers, and be as strategic as possible about this. Take advantage of all their time together and let Lovino recognize the awesomeness in front of him, and see what Gilbert wanted, without scaring him away… Now that was a battle if there ever was one.

Lovino woke him up eight sharp, throwing one of the couch cushions at his head.

"Come on, asshole, we'd better get going. Or else your fan club will be at the beach too, and you don't want them judging your performance!"

Gilbert wanted to avoid his yesterday's underage critics as much as anything, but nevertheless, used the couch cushion to cover his eyes. "Don't I get a good morning, today?" he asked groggily.

"We'll see if the day is good." Lovino answered. "If you piss me off too much, I'll make sure your day becomes hell!"

Gilbert peeked at Lovino from under the cushion. "You didn't sleep well tonight, did you?" he asked.

Lovino huffed. "Just get your stuff and let's go."

Gilbert decided to ignore what must have been the results of Lovino waking up too early. He got to the bathroom, and came out ready to go. Almost. "Sunscreen on my back?" he asked Lovino.

Lovino looked at him annoyed. "I spread sunscreen on my back alone. Your hands are long enough."

Gilbert stayed there looking at Lovino for a couple of seconds. "Please?"

Lovino seemed defeated. "Whatever, bastard" he said, and applied sunscreen on Gilbert's back, in what must have been a world record time. "Let's go now!" he said, grabbing his stuff and leading the way.

Lovino was not speaking at all on the way to the beach, and Gilbert had a bad feeling in his gut. What was wrong? Lovino seemed a little more negative than usual. Or at least in comparison to the previous days, when he seemed to be having fun. It made him feel a bit chilly, even though the sun that morning was promising them another warm day on the beautiful beach.

They left their things under the usual pine trees and approached the sea. Lovino was not running towards the water like a child towards an ice cream truck for once. Gilbert looked at him puzzled. "Now what?" he asked.

"Now... Get in the water and float around!"

"Float on my back?"

"No! You did that yesterday! You can't have forgotten how to do that already!"

"But you're not coming in? You have to be next to me…" Gilbert said without a trace of joking in his mind. "You know, just in case…"

"No." Lovino insisted. "You won't need me. You have to do it alone now, it's time. You have to get used to it."

Gilbert took a look at Lovino, who was in turn looking a bit anxious. Should he be anxious too? Was Lovino angry at the world enough today to let Gilbert drown?

Gilbert got waist-high in the water, and bent his knees first to immerse his torso in the water leaving his head outside. He was already feeling the stress.

"Come on, go a bit further towards the deep side" Lovino told him from the shore.

"I can't!" Gilbert whined as if Lovino had stolen his candy. "I don't feel safe with you out there! I signed up with the master, you said, shouldn't you at least be in the sea with me?"

Lovino entered the water, defeated: "You can stop paying me if you want, brat!" he grumped. He stayed at a 5-6 meters distance from Gilbert, and gave his directions again: "Okay, let's do this! From where you are to where I am, you can easily reach the seabed. You won't drown. Just try to remain upright, but float towards me. Float, don't walk."

"What? How?" Gilbert's question sounded a bit dumb even in his ears.

"What do you mean how, Einstein? Any way you can!" Lovino scratched his head, seemingly frustrated. "Only condition is not touching your feet on the bottom of the sea."

"Okay, okay, I got this!" Gilbert shouted, trying to give courage to himself. "Beware, here I come!" he sang, and carefully let his upper body into the water once more.

His face looking at the sky and jaw clumped closed so that to keep his mouth and nose water free, the rest of his body in a bicycle riding position into the water, he begun moving his arms and legs in the most uncoordinated way imaginable. He was sure Lovino could see in the crystal-like water his feet reaching the seabed every time he felt insecure. After fighting with the water for several minutes, he faced ahead to see how much closer to Lovino he was. He had hardly moved from his original position. Lovino did not seem to expect him there any time soon, one hand close to his face so that he could inspect his fingernails.

Lovino looked up, and huffed: "Should I go buy us some lunch for when you're here?" he asked. "An isotonic drink to recharge your batteries?"

Gilbert tried to stifle a whine, and shouted again: "Directions, sensei! Give me directions, I don't seem to be able to move from this spot!" he almost begged.

"Any type or row-like movement with your hands would do!" Lovino supplied. He tsked. "You never really were a naval nation, were you?" he teased Gilbert.

That remark really hit spot for Gilbert. One could tease him, but not his country! He concentrated on his moves, his effort showing on his furrowed eyebrows. After a while, he managed to produce an arm movement that was very slowly bringing him towards Lovino, and a weird leg movement that was keeping him afloat for longer. It took him a long time, but he finally reached his arm out, and grabbed Lovino's offered hand.

"Yes!" Gilbert shouted. "Ain't I a great student?" he asked Lovino, still panting. He batted his eyelashes to him, with a mischievous smile: "Aren't you proud of me?"

His teacher looked the other way, with what Gilbert could almost swear was a blush on his face. Lovino, though, was not as ecstatic about his progress. "It's not so different from what you did yesterday! No big news, no world records broken! It's not like you're even half way to real swimming, potato boy!"

"Mmmm, just be happy for me a little bit, can you?" Gilbert whined. "Come float with me for a while!" he dared.

"No time for play! You have to do this perfectly!" Lovino objected.

"What do you mean? Wasn't that awesome already?" Gilbert pretended to complain.

Lovino did not stay to listen to Gilbert's upcoming speech of self-admiration. He swam a bit further towards the deep, and disappeared under the water. He did not resurface for a couple of minutes, making Gilbert really anxious. Was Lovino so displeased with him that he would quit their teaching session without a word? Was Gilbert really such a bad student? Or was it his attitude? Did he act too confident? No, there's no such a thing…And, wait, Lovino is a very good swimmer, admittedly, but where is he? It must be at least three minutes since he's gone underwater…

Right on this thought, Lovino resurfaced a few meters away from Gilbert, carrying something black in his hands. He lifted them and showed Gilbert the urchins he was carrying. "You let your feet touch the seabed all the time, Gilbert!" he said. "You thought I didn't see that? Or that I'd let it pass? Ha! This time, I'll make sure I'm not wasting my time!" he said in a smug tone, and let the urchins he was holding fall in the sea between the spots where he and Gilbert were standing.

Gilbert was at a loss. Lovino left again, and returned a couple of minutes later with another handful of urchins, which he also spread on the path leading from him to Gilbert.

"Now float to me!" Lovino ordered again, his arms crossed on his chest in the water.

Gilbert finally closed his mouth, only to instantly re-open it to shout: "Are you nuts? When did you go all crazy sports coach on me?" he asked. Lovino pouted, but Gilbert continued. "I signed up for swimming lessons, not the crash course on becoming a fakir! Would you like to see me suffer?!"

"What?!" Lovino asked incredulously. "No, I just want you not to touch your fucking feet down! I'd do that for everyone!"

Hidden - well, not so hidden - mean streak, Gilbert thought.

"And why would I want to see you suffer?" Lovino asked, with a hint of suspicion now in his voice. "What did you do, to make me want such a thing?"

Gilbert felt relief his swimming was not hideous enough to have made Lovino want to injure him with malevolent sea creatures. "Nothing, nothing…" he said in a lower tone now.

He took a look at the urchins now lying on the seabed between him and his dream guy. He decided that acknowledging them would not help him out, so, without saying another word, and without losing eye contact with Lovino, he begun floating towards him.

He did what was always the best thing to do in a battle, a situation Gilbert was excellent at, and felt most comfortable in. When the bayonets were clashing around him in the past, passion had been useful to him, but sticking to being concentrated was the best strategy. So he emptied his mind, and thought only of the moves his arms and legs were making, trying only to coordinate them, and not let his feet touch the seabed.

Soon, much sooner than he had anticipated, he had reached Lovino, and held his arms again, refusing to put his feet down and risk his walking abilities.

Gilbert was pleased to see a cheeky smile on Lovino's face: "Well done, mermaid of the Northern Sea!" Lovino said, amused. "That was faster than before too!"

"That's the first nice thing you said to me today!" Gilbert exclaimed, in an effort to see what was wrong with Lovino. "Even if you camouflaged it into a joke! Is your foul mood finally broken for this morning?"

Lovino, wide-eyed and looking busted, denied everything: "Foul mood? No, no, I was just as always!" he said, trying to distance himself.

Gilbert though, held Lovino's arms strongly: "No, no, you were an urchin yourself today, and I thought you didn't want to have classes anymore with the best student possible ever, but it seems that my awesome swimming has finally broken the spell!" said Gilbert, in his usual manner that could not betray whether he was kidding or whether he really meant what he was saying.

Lovino, though, kept trying to get away only managing to drag his student with him. "Gilbert, you're just imagining things! I have been my perfectly normal self since morning" he said, with the air of a man who was knowingly talking bullshit.

Gilbert, seeing that Lovino was in no mood of admitting anything, decided to let it drop. "Whatever, Lovi! I hope you'll not continue being your perfectly normal self for the rest of the day!"

By now Lovino had managed to detach his arms from Gilbert's grasp, took a look around, and smugly said, as he moved further away: "Look at that! It was about time we went deeper!"

Gilbert froze. He looked around and realized Lovino had sneakily brought him on the deeper side of the sea, where his legs could not reach the bottom. He yelped in complaint, and his moves doubled in speed. While he could see Lovino had begun making wide cycles around him, just as a shark would do with its pray, he realized that his own moves were good enough to keep him afloat, and that he could easily turn around, and try to follow Lovino with his eyes.

And it felt great. He could finally stay afloat in the deep, without being afraid of drowning. He could slowly float to where he wanted to go, and he could lie on his back and see the birds and the clouds, and he would be finally able to get a snorkel and take a good look at those fish. He was on cloud nine. Gilbert laughed wholeheartedly and begun trying to reach Lovino once more:

"So, it's a good thing I am an awesome student!" he shouted. "Because you're an irresponsible teacher, you just brought me here in the deep and left me all alone!" he said.

"Stop being a child, Prussia!" Lovino answered. "You look safe enough to me, especially in comparison to the other day, when you almost drown on the shore!"

Lovino stayed on spot so Gilbert could reach him."Well done, Gilbert!" he praised him once more and then, mocked him again: "Finally, you'll be able to say you learned something useful!"

"I know a lot of useful things!" Gilbert retorted. "This is a fun thing!" he laughed again.

"And, you're finally ready for the swimming classes!" Lovino said.

Gilbert scrunched his eyebrows. "What? What were those classes we had so far?" he asked. "I am swimming right now, am I not?"

"You are floating now!" Lovino corrected him. "Moving in the water like a newborn baby hippo does not constitute swimming!" Lovino let him know.

"Awww! A baby hippo!" Gilbert cooed. "You really like me if you say such sweet things for me, don't you?" he said, smiling, and tried to reach a fleeting, laughing Lovino. "Don't go away, I don't bite!" he added.

"Of course you can't!" Lovino retorted. "You'd have to catch me first! Race you to the rocks!" he challenged.

Gilbert turned to face where the rocks were. His logic told him they could not be more than 200 meters away. Yet swimming this distance made him feel like he had to reach a far away island.

Lovino guessed his hesitance: "Come on, don't think about it! I'll stick close, and you have to practice a bit." He said, and begun swimming slowly towards the small bay.

"Alright, alright!" Gilbert conceded, and started trying to stay close to his teacher.

They did not speak while swimming towards the block of rocks. Gilbert was half fascinated, half afraid of the alternating scenery in the seabed he swam over, on which he could discern every little detail. He swam over pebbles and blond sand, urchins and swarms of tiny fish swimming in circles, and large rocks, and mysterious looking bunches of sea weed that ticked his feet with their slimy processes. He kept moving in an awkward fashion, slowly developing a weird combination of breaststroke movements for his arms, and freestyle for his legs. Lovino was alternating between slow swimming with his head out of the water, diving and exploring the seabed, and looking at Gilbert, semi-secretly snickering at his swimming efforts.

Gilbert kept on his strenuous attempt to reach the rocks, letting his concentration slip only when Lovino was roaming the water around and below him, sliding in the water like a fish. Gil could only admire the way Lovino was familiar with the water, and thought that if Lovino had gills, he would be as well adjusted to the sea depths as he was to dry land.

At one point, Gilbert felt a hand nudging his side. Looking down, he saw Lovino, sunk underwater, a peculiar, smug smile on his face apparent through the water, pointing towards Gilbert's other side. Gilbert looked where the finger was indicating, and saw one thick, longer than his forearm gray fish, less than a meter away from him. He shrieked, and immediately got motivated to cover the final distance between him and the rocks faster than he thought he could. He felt sure that somewhere behind him, Lovino has having an underwater laughing fit.

Gilbert reached the rocks panting, Lovino reaching him just a second later.

"See? It wasn't so difficult!" Lovino said.

"Nothing is too difficult for me!" Gilbert declared, still trying to catch his breath. And a little less reassured: "Is that fish back there safe?" he asked, and cleared his throat: "For the swimmers, I mean..."

"You're such a scaredy-cat!" Lovino retorted. "It's very safe to be here, no sharks or other deadly fish around." He informed."You only have to worry about drowning, urchins, and jelly fish" he continued, counting with his fingers the dangers lurking in the local waters. "Drowning is what we fight off with swimming lessons, urchins, you know by now, and jelly fish, well... not much we can do!"

Gilbert's eyes widened and begun looking around frantically: "There are jelly fish here?"

Lovino tried to swallow a laugh: "Not this time of year…" And then, looking at Gilbert he said seriously: "But it's better to familiarize with the wild life in your environment. Look at the barnacles, and the limpets, and the tiny shrimps on the rocks!"

Curious red eyes turned towards where Lovino's finger was pointing. Gilbert noticed all the small limpets hanging on, slightly detached from the rock so that the water that was lapping the rock in weak waves could get to their inner side. He touched the shell of one of them, and it responded immediately, attaching itself to the rock so firmly, that the Prussian could not detach it, hard as he tried.

Gilbert noticed that Lovino had come really close to look at what he was doing, and thought the biology lesson was worth the while. "Where are the shrimps?" he asked. I don't see any!

Lovino pointed to a tiny creature that was so far completely camouflaged on the surface of the rock. Gilbert could now see the almost transparent, smaller than a button animal.

"Want to see something cool?" Lovino asked. He spread his hand on the gruff surface, and waited. Soon one of the tiny shrimps was climbing on it and exploring.

Gilbert was ecstatic: "I wanna do it too!" he declared. He also put his hand right next to Lovino's scaring the small animal away.

Lovino, who suddenly seemed serious and very concentrated, kept his hand where it was on the stone and said: "Wait, Gilbert. Stay still and it will come again."

Indeed, the shrimp made another appearance, and decided to explore Gilbert's fingers and nails. He could feel its minuscule legs putting considerable pressure on his skin. "Does it bite?" he asked.

"Of course! If you're not careful, it might cut your hand off!" Lovino laughed shamelessly.

The creature had now jumped from Gilbert's hand to Lovino's.

Gilbert smiled. "I have another difficult question for you." he continued. "Is this little guy's name really "tiny shrimp?""

Lovino's baritone, deep laughter was music to Gilbert's ears. "I don't know, maybe!" Lovino replied, let his hand fall from the rock, and instead brought his feet against it to push himself away. In a few seconds he went underwater, and resurfaced a few meters away. "Just so you know, I charge extra for local fauna lessons!" he shouted.

Gilbert followed him laughing too. He really wanted to walk back, but he only had that many chances to spend time with Lovino. He thought Lovino realized his tiredness though, when he just lazily floated close to him, and chatted with Gilbert accompanying him on his slow return all the way back.

By the time they reached their spot, Feliciano and Ludwig had come to the shore. Lovino and Gilbert came out of the water and sat by their usual pine trees. Gilbert felt exhausted and hungry.

"Lovino," he asked, "is there anything to eat around here?"

"There's breakfast at home!" Lovino replied. "You can go and have all you want!"

"No, no!" Gilbert said. "I don't want to leave the beach yet, or eat too much, maybe I want to go back in the water later!" he explained.

"There's the canteen from which you bought water yesterday. If you go, get me some coffee!" Lovino deadpanned.

Gilbert looked at him amused: "I am tired, you go to bring me something and get your coffee!"

Lovino looked at him in an are-you-fucking-kidding-me way.

"What?" Gilbert smiled. "You are my host here! You should be spoiling me if you want me to return!"

Lovino groaned and complained: "You are spoiled enough, Gilbert Beilschmidt! And who told you I'd like you to come here again?"

Gilbert frowned: "If you don't like having fun, don't invite me again!" he said.

"I didn't invite you this time either!" Lovino informed him, searching Feliciano's little bag next to him. "Feli did." But before Gilbert had a chance to retort, he continued: "But do you like it here so far?"

Gilbert didn't feel like lying, even if he felt bummed. "I like it very much." He said. "It's awfully hot, of course, but the house is great, the food as well, the area seems amazing, and I am looking forward to exploring it some more, you're a great host –even if you didn't invite me- and a great teacher, and I can now survive in the sea, and I have the chance to enjoy all of that some more before going away."

Lovino was obviously pleased to hear all that, his breast slowly filling with more air and the ends of his lips gradually arching upwards.

"Okay, okay!" he said. "Stop the flattery! You already won this!" he said, throwing a juicy, cooled orange on Gilbert's lap.

"Where did this come from?"

"From Feli's magic bag!" Lovino answered, moving his fingers as if expecting a white pigeon to miraculously appear from the bag.

"I don't want to eat Feli's orange!" Gilbert protested. "He'll need it later!"

Lovino, still smiling, answered: "The orange is not for him. That's for him," he said, taking out of the bag some sandwich bread overflowing with various green and red ingredients, wrapped in a polybag.

"I don't want to have Luddy's food either!"

"That's not Germany's, this is your brother's:" he said, taking an apple out of the bag.

"It's for me?" he asked, astonished. "He carried the orange for me?"

"No, that's for you!" Lovino said triumphantly, taking out of the bag a can of energy drink, attached on an ice pack with a rubber band, releasing it and throwing it to Gilbert's lap.

Gilbert could hardly believe it. "So, the orange is for you?" he asked Lovino astonished.

"Yes, yes, the orange is for me, but I'm not hungry, and you can have it, and the idiot always brings one, but I never eat it, but he brings it anyway, so now you can have it, no problem." he said with one breath.

Gilbert felt rich. He had an orange and a cool drink. And Lovino had given him his food. Of course, he hadn't wanted it, but he had given it to him and that was big. He peeled the orange, offering half of it to Lovino who silently refused. He also reveled at the fact that he had managed to break Lovino's earlier foul mood. That must count for something. Lovino liked him a bit! Or didn't hate him but for Lovino that was practically the same thing…

Gilbert satiated his thirst and hunger looking at the view ahead of him. Feliciano and Ludwig were in the water having a small argument on whether it would be okay for Feli to skinny dip. A couple of small, wooden boats were lazily floating in the distance, some kids climbing on them so they could dive into the water again. The beach itself was slowly filling with families and groups of teenagers, bringing with them their beach umbrellas, chairs and portable mini fridges. Here he felt so far away from anything in his everyday life, but also anything reminding him of his war-filled past, and he felt truly relaxed.

"I could so get used to this", he thought, sighing. He turned to look at Lovino and found him giving him a doubtful look over his sunglasses. Lovino too looked so fitting into this environment, with his tan, red swim trunks, and straw fedora hat.

"What?" Gilbert asked with a dismissive shrug.

There was a tone of suspision in Lovino's voice. "Why are you sighing?"

"That's not what you wanted to ask me!" Gilbert protested.

"It is now!"

Gilbert found no use in lying. "I would not have minded having more reasons to come back here." He said seriously. "It's so different from everywhere else."

Lovino was giving him a very serious look, and Gilbert tried to lighten the atmosphere: "Hey, maybe I'll buy a house near-by and come to annoy you every summer!" he said smiling. "I'll open a small shop and sell wurst and French fries in the village in the winter, and ice cream right here on the beach in the summer! And when I am bored, and know you're here, I will knock on your door and ask you to teach me various other skills, necessary for survival in the South of Italy", he told him and added: "Skills like hunting octopuses, farming tomatoes, and playing scopa."

Instead of the cussing Gilbert expected to receive for his barely concealed threats to further burden Lovino with his presence, let alone his willingness to introduce the taste of german sausages to the Italian people, Lovino just kept staring at Gilbert with his eyes narrowed, and after a while he muttered: "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure!" Gilbert nodded.

Lovino hesitated for a while, but then said: "Do you remember that world conference, when Antonio ruined that t-shirt of yours?"

Gilbert thought for a while. "Which one?" he asked.

"That AC/DC one?"

"Yes," Gilbert remembered. "What about it?"

Lovino blushed. "Do you remember whether you had actually seen the ink st-"

"Hey guys!" a dripping Feliciano reached them, not caring he had interrupted his brother. Gilbert thought that saying Lovino was pissed would be an understatement. "Don't you guys think it would be okay if I took my swim suit off?" Feli asked innocently. "Do you think anyone would mind? Luddy says I shouldn't, but I believe-"

"I would mind!" Lovino shouted. "In fact, I would use your swim trunks to choke you!" he yelled. "Why don't you go play with the pebbles, like a good child, eh?"

Feli was taken aback by the sudden attack, and begun giving his arguments, trying to hold his tears: "That lady the first day we were here did it, nobody said a thing…" he complained pouting. And then, gaining some courage: "And you know it's nicer without the swimming suit, it always is…" he added looking sideways at Lovino.

Lovino's eyes widened at that. "No, I don't know! How should I? I know nothing of it!" he shouted in a too-defensive-to-be-innocent voice.

Feli quit being subtle: "Yes, you do" he deadpanned. And then, turning to Gilbert, he confided in a conspirational tone: "It's tons better!"

The older Italian brother looked like a furnace ready to explode by now, and Gilbert decided not to add to Lovino's distress by admitting openly he couldn't care less if Feli went stark naked into the Italian Parliament or to excite himself by imagining Lovino swimming without his swimming trunks in the calm sea during a pink sunset.

"Listen, Feli…" Gilbert said, "as your boyfriend's brother, I'd find it terribly awkward if I saw you naked. And I'm sure Ludwig wouldn't be very happy with me if I ever did." He continued, sighing: "It's not awesome, man… Why don't you wait until there's less people on the beach?"

Feliciano visibly deflated, while Lovino breathed deeply. A drenching, frowning Ludwig showed up next to them and asked: "What did the conclave decide? I hope you told him he can't walk around naked."

"We decided that I need to show you that secluded beach I know tomorrow afternoon", the younger Italian replied seemingly indifferently, turned around to leave and re-entered the water, his eyes cast down.

Ludwig sighed carding his hand through his hair and asked Lovino: "It's a nudist beach, isn't it?"

Lovino grinned and nodded signaling an affirmative answer. The German sighed once more and followed Feliciano to the water. Lovino's devilish smile would not subside though.

"Nudism is obligatory there, right?" Gilbert guessed. "Luddy will have to go nude too to be able to follow Feli in there?"

Seeing Lovino's second, more emphatic nod, their wild laughter resonated throughout the site.

"That's one hell of a joke I would like to be there to witness. NOT!" Lovino said ironically, wiping small tears from his eyes.

"We won't even have to ask Ludwig what happened when they come back! The story will be written all over his face!" Gilbert snickered. And I won't be letting it go for a long time!"

Lovino looked at Gilbert in fake graveness. "I count on you and your obnoxiousness for that! Don't fail me!"

"I won't!" he confirmed. And then he thought about it some more. "Shame on me, though… I conspire with you against my own brother behind his back!"

"You should be ready to play along with pissing Germany off a little bit, if you are interested on getting on my good side." Lovino replied, and then, realizing his words he added: "Unless you are not interested, I… I don't care, anyway…"

Gilbert felt he should not miss his chance: "Of course I do!"

Lovino's eyes widened. "Right, right…"

He said nothing more for a while, then decided to swim some more, and left Gilbert's company to head to the sea.

Gilbert sighed. "Hm, that went well…" he muttered. He walked up to the house to retrieve his comic book, and returned to the beach again to rest in the shade of the trees. Donald Duck could do nothing though to cheer Gilbert up.

After some time they all headed up to the house. Lovino and Feliciano drove to the town to get a fresh supply of food and they all had a big brunch. They spent their afternoon playing board games at the balcony, looking at the view of the sea, and sipping ice cold beverages. Lovino was pleased immensely by Gilbert when he won all three games of Risk against Ludwig who swore he would never play the game with his brother again. The Prussian, in return, found that the emotional rollercoaster of being in and out of Lovino's good graces was equally interesting and frustrating.

That evening found Gilbert with the rest of the gang in the small open air cinema in the nearby town. The screen was on the roof of a small house, the place filled with comfortable, sturdy director's chairs and potted plants. "Grand Hotel Budapest" looked like a very entertaining film, but the Italian dubbing made it impossible for him to follow. He looked around and spotted Feliciano and Ludwig half-hidden in a relatively empty spot, huddled together, speaking softly to each other. Lovino next to him was immersed in the movie, and only lost focus when he stole the fresh popcorn from Gilbert's hands. Gilbert loved the look of concentration of Lovino's face, and how, unbeknown to him, his features showed his emotions during the ups and downs in the movie characters' lives.

Tiredness from that day's lengthy swimming lesson, the sweet scent of evening primrose and the half-drunk beer in his hands allowed Gilbert to drift off. Next thing he knew, Lovino was shaking his shoulder to let him know the film was over. Gilbert realized he had slept all through the second part of the film on Lovino's shoulder, and the Italian had allowed it. He silently considered it a big victory and he slept through that night in the couch smiling.

Waking up next morning felt different. Gilbert realized that Lovino had not come to wake him up early, and the clock on the wall showed a time quite later than their usual 8.00 o' clock. He found Lovino already up and in the balcony, reading a newspaper. He poured some of the already brewed coffee in a mug and went to meet him.

"Buongiorno" Lovino greeted him.

"Good morning, Lovino!" Gilbert greeted back and sighed deeply sitting down on a chair and bringing the mug to his lips. "Mmmm! Thanks for the coffee!" he said as its strong aroma reached him.

"You're welcome." Lovino folded his newspaper.

"What happened today? No early training?"

"Look at the sea, Gilbert! It's not a good day for a class." he pointed towards the view in front of them.

Gilbert noticed the white waves that rolled on the sand upturning it and spiting sea weeds on the shore, and shivered. "Good we don't have a lesson, because I wouldn't have entered the water today even if you paid me!"

"We could still go, you know, despite the wind" Lovino smirked. "You could jump over the waves close to the shore like all the other children will be doing. Or you could make sand castles with Feli, and decorate them with pebbles!"

"Ha ha!" Gilbert fake-laughed. "Not that I wouldn't be excellent at that too, it would also look great on my blog…" he admitted. " You know, I could show off my inner child and how fun I am and how sincere my feelings and innocent my heart is…"

"Eh, stop it already with all that self advertising…" Lovino said smiling. "We already know you're a good guy …"

"Only when my battle awesomeness doesn't need to be on the surface!" Gilbert said, laughing.

"Your battle awesomeness better stay hidden or I'll call the children from the other day… and it won't be beautiful!" Lovino warned, reminding Gilbert of his severest critics on this excursion. "They surely can rip even your self-esteem in tiny pieces…"

"Come on, don't make them sound so bad!" came the complaint from the Prussian. "I'm pretty sure they were joking!"

"How would you know?" Lovino asked. "For all you know we're all like that here in southern Italy. Maybe we train our kids to be cynical and snippy."

"If one judges from you, you all have slight attitude issues, but deep down you are welcoming and warm!" Gilbert said, leaning forward and batting his eyelids.

"Gee, we better wipe the floor, you're drooling for attention and we might slip and break a leg!" Lovino concluded, casually bringing his hand over his face to cover his smile. "Anyway, where are our brothers? I bet Germany is having the worst vacation of his life. I'm fairly sure he wakes up at six every morning but does not dare show his face here until Feli is awake, so give or take four hours of waiting…"

"No, he needs his beauty sleep alright!" Gilbert informed. "And he misses going to bed early these last few nights."

"Unlike you, who will sleep whenever and wherever!" Lovino retorted.

Gilbert smiled mischievously: "Only when the pillow is comfortable!"

Lovino blushed. "Shut up, moron! It's my fault I didn't push you off to fall and sleep on the floor last night! My shoulder hurts if you want to know!"

Gilbert was fast to reply: "I could help you with that, among my other qualities I'm a good masseur!"

Lovino rolled his eyes, while the sound of Ludwig and Feliciano coming down the stairs saved him from having to answer.

"Good morning, everyone!" Feliciano greeted cheerfully. He served coffee for him and Ludwig and they joined the other too on the table on the balcony. "What are going to do today?" he asked. "I don't feel like going to the beach in this windy weather!"

"We had thought as much!" Lovino answered. "Do you have anything in mind?"

"Well yes!" Feli replied. "I thought we could go and see that ancient temple dedicated to Hera you took me to some years ago-"

"This sounds nice!" agreed Ludwig.

"… and later at that cave you always promise to take me and then claim we never have time?" Feliciano finished, not forgetting to regale his brother with an all sweet, but fake innocent smile.

"And I'd love that!" Gilbert said. "Can we do both?" he asked looking at the others, but his eyes quickly resting on Lovino.

"We'll spend most of the day in the car…" Lovino muttered, thinking, and instantly, he added, excited now: "But it's worth it! I'll drive!"

Ludwig seemed a bit uneasy. "Are you sure, Lovino? These must be a lot of hours of driving…"

"Positive! Not negotiable." Lovino confirmed in a threatening tone. "No foreign hands will touch the steering wheel of my Fiat!" he hissed.

Ludwig conceded, but Gilbert could see his brother was already preparing himself mentally for Lovino's reckless driving.

"I call dibs for the seat next to Ludwig, ve!" Feliciano said suddenly.

"Oh no! Such a loss for the rest of us!" Lovino sighed over-dramatically, while Ludwig smiled at Feli imperceptibly.

"But be careful, brother!" Feliciano gave his signature too-innocent-to-be-real smile as he stood up, "Don't let Gilbert sleep on your shoulder while you're driving; it could be dangerous!"

Gilbert felt that his face probably had the same colour as Lovino's right then, the shade of a lobster in particular. They both pretended they didn't hear a thing, and left to prepare themselves for the excursion.

The road to the ancient theatre was narrow and winding. Gilbert saw that reckless as Lovino may be as a driver, he was the better choice, as he knew all the roads by heart and was familiar with the way the drivers in this area were behaving. Ludwig driving would have been safer, maybe, but it would have taken much longer to reach their destination.

The scenery they drove through was alternating between dry wheat fields, speckled with wild poppies, orange and olive trees, and sparse pine vegetation. The group of four had to drive up a steep hill to find the ancient temple, which was quite well preserved. Feliciano kept taking pictures of everything and everyone, most of them featuring him and Ludwig and some part of the temple or other.

Ludwig googled the temple and gave them some basic idea of the history of the place. Gilbert could see that Lovino was –with great difficulty- holding back not to add to his narration or correct him. For all they knew Lovino was around when the place was built.

While waiting for Feli to take a few more photos of his boyfriend in front of every little detail, Gilbert and Lovino slowly headed back to the car. A stray dog came near them to beg for some food and they fed it anything they could find in the car. When their brothers joined them, they hopped on the car again and drove off towards the cave.

They reached the place after a couple of hours, and, when they paid for their tickets, got inside. The cave was everything a speleologist would have asked for. They saw stalagmites and stalactites of various sizes and morphologies, and rode with a small boat to pass through the flooded parts of the cave. It was almost an hour of guided tour during which Gilbert asked a lot of questions. He would have sneaked through to the part of the cave that was not included in the tour had he been visiting alone. It was an experience worth the while, they all agreed.

By the time they were done with the visit, they were famished. They bought some juice and water from a canteen nearby, and continued to find a small, picturesque village on a mountain, much closer to home, that Lovino wanted to take them to.

The trip there was a small chaos. Feliciano was complaining that the fruit juice had only increased his appetite, and wanted to make a stop at one of the bakeries by the road to buy some bread. Gilbert was changing the radio channels every few seconds trying to find something on which they would all agree to listen to, and insisted on spreading his legs on the dashboard of the car, much to Lovino's annoyance. Lovino was telling everyone off, even if he tried to make it as mild as possible. Gilbert was having immense fun.

When they reached their destination they decided to explore the village first and then have a late lunch at one of the restaurants on the rim of the cliff the village hung from, and enjoy the view of the valley it offered. They walked among the whitewashed houses, and Feliciano used his camera some more. At some point, Lovino got fed up with posing for his brother, and decided he would sit down, order some food and wait for the rest of them to come. Gilbert followed him, and they walked together towards what Lovino knew to be the best restaurant of the village.

Gilbert had been thinking about Lovino's emotional instability that day, and had formed the idea that it was caused by his suspecting the Prussian had some type of romantic interest towards him. He also saw Lovino had not cursed him and kicked him out of his house, but had accepted all his small steps forward, even if reluctantly. So, it was now or never, he decided, and was determined to push his luck a bit further, first chance he got.

"I love Feli, but he is quite tiring!" said Lovino, signaling to the waiter to come as they were sitting down in the restaurant's yard. "Do you remember how much he complained about being hungry just half an hour ago? He made my ears bleed! Now he's taking photographs and jumping around the village's steep paths like a wild goat""

Gilbert laughed. "What can you do? Younger brothers…they complain a lot…"

Lovino looked at him. "Yours too? I didn't think he was the complaining type."

"He doesn't do it with words most of the times…" Gilbert explained. "It shows in his eyes mostly" he said, pointing towards his upper face, grinning.

Their guffaw echoed to the void in front of them.

Gilbert admired the wonderful view of the villages scattered in the valley and hills below their feet while Lovino was ordering food for all of them.

"That's another defect of him I was not aware of!" Lovino remarked. "I hope he doesn't bother my brother too much with his nagging!"

"I beg your pardon!" Gilbert said in a fake-offended way. "He's not nagging! Just mildly disapproving." And after some moments of thought he continued: "Besides, he must be doing something right! Feli adores him."

Lovino looked like he was about to explode, but spoke not.

"You can't deny that, can you?" Gilbert asked with a smug smile.

"Damn it, no." Lovino admitted. "He'd better be worth it, though," he added menacingly, "or else…"

"Or else?"

"If he ever hurts Feliciano he'll have to deal with me." Lovino said seriously.

"And you'll have to do with me, Don Corleone!" Gilbert retorted. "Don't you think I love my brother enough to defend him?" he asked. "And you know as well as I do, this relationship is here to stay. None of them would hurt the other. So you can bury the hatchet of war!"

Lovino took his time to answer. "I don't work with hatchets. I'm a rifle kind of guy." He said in a mocking tone. And then more seriously: "I truly hope you're right about them, though."

"Of course I am! I always am!"

"Hardly!" Lovino smiled arching his eyebrows.

"Besides, don't you think I'd reprove him if he ever hurt Feli? Luddy is my brother, and it's my job to teach him how to treat people right!" Gilbert said, a little offended. There was a pause, as if the Prussian had suddenly realized something, and he asked, suspiciously: "What about you? What did you teach Feli?"

"The same thing! To treat people right!" Lovino answered. "The important ones, though, I don't care what he does with your brother!"

"Boy, your heart is closed for Ludwig! Why? He's practically your brother in law!"

Lovino huffed. At that point the first part of their order was brought by the waiter who swiftly disappeared again.

"You want to know why I don't like your brother?" Lovino resumed their conversation. "I don't like him because when he's there Feliciano can pay attention to nothing else" he explained. "And my brother had no use of more air headedness!"

Gilbert nodded in understanding and filled their glasses with white wine. Looking to the view ahead he admitted: "They both are complete dorks when they are together… but I am kind of jealous of them."

"Them who?" Lovino asked, astonished. "Do you mean the silly duet? The hungry assholes who nevertheless don't show up for food? The guys who are so absorbed with each other that didn't notice you knew not how to fucking swim and haven't even realized I've been teaching you, and even if they did notice they never bothered to say anything about it? Do you mean the constantly talking buffoon who invited you here and then left you to me to entertain and hardly ever spoken to your sorry ass or mine since, and the wall of flesh you call your brother who doesn't take one step separately from my stupid brother? You're jealous of these guys?" He sighed, shaking his head with disapproval.

Gilbert was laughing heartily by the end of Lovino's complaint. "Yes, these guys! They're so into a universe of their own when they are together because they love each other!"

Lovino pretended to gag.

"Yes they love each other, and that's what I'm jealous of." Gilbert said. "You may find it funny, but I'd not mind at all trying that out. Not the love-you-so-much-I-can't-see-anything-else thing, exactly," Gilbert explained beginning to chew on some bread, "but all the rest."

"I, I see…" Lovino stuttered now. "I thought you were a lone wolf and needed nobody and all that shit…"

Gilbert saw Lovino had accepted all his small steps forward so far, so he decided to keep going. "I don't need anybody, this is still me we're talking about!" he bragged in his usual, obnoxious tone. "But if I could find someone good, someone trustworthy, I wouldn't be stupid enough to say no." he finished somewhat softly.

Lovino was persistently looking at his plate now.

Gilbert thought for a while, rubbing his chin." Hmm… maybe you can take your revenge by doing the same thing to Ludwig!"

Lovino's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?" he asked, confused. His eyes widened at laughing Gilbert's answer.

"Do exactly the same thing! Make someone Ludwig cares about be so absorbed with you, they won't pay any attention to Ludwig when you're around!"