The room was tense for a few seconds. Antonio and Lovino didn't seem to notice. "Lovi, these are my amigos. Well, except for that one." He scowled at Arthur again and then looked at Francis as if wondering whether telling Arthur to crash somewhere else was worth angering the husband.

Francis sighed. "You said over the phone that only one of your guest rooms are available for us?"

Lovino fumed, apparently more angry now that he could hear him speak in person. Antonio brushed off his apparent concern. "Si, Feli was going to be coming down for the wedding. As well as Romulus…" Gilbert wasn't sure who either of those two people were though the "Feli" part was familiar.

He was more concerned about the revelation that the universe didn't want Lovino with Antonio, but with Gilbert. He knew it couldn't be something that the Other Side concocted or anything. He found himself conflicted. Lovino was probably happy with Antonio. Even if he was clearly meant to be with Gilbert, his soulmate's happiness came first…. And he'll be honest, Antonio was a looker. Gilbert was… not.

And Antonio, he couldn't do something like that to him, it would be unawesome! Antonio would never understand the fact that it wasn't meant to be, at least not without telling him the truth.

"Well, that doesn't matter now." Lovino continued. "I don't need my fratellino influenced by perverted Frenchmen." And just great, he was outwardly prejudiced too.

"Lovino be nice." Antonio chided as if he was a petulant child. Gilbert felt a surge of protectiveness despite the fact that the Italian was clearly rude to Gilbert's best friend. Francis didn't seem to be offended, though. Arthur was even smirking. Something told Gilbert that Lovino and Arthur would probably hit it off. Antonio smiled suddenly and turned back to the group. "I've… sort of planned on Franny and…. His lover sharing the guest room. Is that alright with you, Gil?"

"Ja." He said.

"Great. Now I have to share my house with a perverted Frenchman and two potato bastards." Lovino snapped. "This is your damn fault!" He said to Antonio, as if the Spanish man being nice enough to lend his spare bedroom to them was a bad thing.

He was still cute though. Dammit.

The four of them placed their bags down into the guest room that was given to Francis and Arthur. Francis sighed. "It's just a shame that the moment that Toni finds l'amour it's with Gil's lover." He pulled a bottle of Merlot out of his suitcase and placed it on the bedside table along with a bottle of rum that Gilbert assumed was for Arthur.

Gilbert frowned. "Ludwig said that alcohol was banned from—"

"Kiku said that you needed to be focused during this mission." Ludwig said. "And the last time that you went drinking with Antonio you almost got accosted by The Other Side!"

"…This is so not awesome! I can hold my beer much better than you, bruder—"

Arthur sighed. "That isn't the point. That particular member of The Other Side continues to go after you in particular for some bizarre reason…. And you were not prepared for the threat. It only makes sense to limit your intake of substances."

"You can drink at the bar every so often while we are here." Ludwig said. "But remember that we are here on business."

Gilbert sighed. "I didn't realise I needed a babysitter now."

"Well…" Francis said. "I'm sure there will be plenty of reasons to drink up these next few weeks." He collapsed onto the bed dramatically. "Toni's marrying your one and only. You'll never get laid now."

"That's what you're worried about!" Arthur said to him. "What about your other stupid friend! He should be marrying his own soulmate and not someone else's! Also, why would the Other Side be—"

Gilbert sighed. "It's different. Antonio's my friend… I can't steal his cute fiancé away from him, even if Lovino wanted it."

"Oui, of course I'm worried about our little friend's sex life. I don't even think he's kissed someone! He's clearly one of those 'hopeless romantic sworn celibacy' types. Have you not been noticing?"

"I am not! I don't even care about my soulmate!" Gilbert said. "I'm just fine alone!" An odd pang of hurt erupted into his chest, but he ignored it and willed for it to stop.

"Do you want Antonio or Lovino to wake you, you dummkopfs!" Ludwig hissed. "Arthur, what were you saying about the Other Side? They can not fake bonds."

"That's not it. Kiku said that the mission was to make sure that the wedding took place because the Other Side was going to try to stop true love. But they aren't soulmates."

Francis sighed. "That one member who's always following Gilbert." Gilbert shuddered. That was the member who Antonio had saved them from once back when they'd first met. Now he won't leave Gilbert alone whenever he comes to Earth.

"You think that he had something to do with this?" Ludwig asked.

"I think he knew who Gilbert's soulmate was… and thought that Gilbert knew who his soulmate was too."

"They're not trying to stop the wedding." Arthur affirmed. "They're trying to make sure that the wedding actually happens."

"We have to stop it." Francis said. "For l'amour."

Gilbert spoke up then, ignoring the pain that he still felt in his chest. "No, we won't. For Antonio." The others all looked at him with shocked expressions, even Ludwig. Gilbert didn't understand why what he said was so weird. The annoying pang was building until he almost couldn't ignore it anymore. His string was tightening on his finger as well.

"Don't fight fate, Gilbert. That doesn't fare well for Immortals." Arthur warned him, noticing the odd, incessant pull from the string.

"Would he feel it too?" Gilbert asked. "Lovino, I mean."

"Probably not. Humans who fight their fate never learn their mistakes." Arthur said. "Because they don't know that they've made one." He looked concerned. "I've never heard of an Immortal fighting their own bond…"

Ludwig sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter now. We should call Kiku in the morning and tell him what we've learned." He dragged his brother by the arm out of the room to go sleep on Antonio's pullout couch.

The next morning, Gilbert smelled three things: pancakes, churros, and tomatoes. His eyes opened. Lovino was sitting on a bar stoll the other side room, in a kitchen area, nibbling on a tomato with a half-eaten churro in front of him, despite the fact that he said the day before that they were evidently shit.

Gilbert sat up. Ludwig was already awake, helping Antonio make pancakes in the kitchen. He was wearing an apron. Normally Gilbert would tease him about such a thing, but he found himself mesmerised by Lovino's soft gaze as he looked at Antonio when he didn't think the Spanish man was looking in his direction.

See? They were clearly happy. And sure, he'd destroyed plenty of relationships before because they weren't meant to be together but this was personal this time. This involved him and his friends. Besides, Antonio was just so—

"Oi, albino potato." Lovino said. "Are you going to eat or not?" Gilbert's heart stopped when he felt those hazel eyes on him. Ludwig glanced over to the two of them with an indiscernible glance. He couldn't help but suddenly be glad that his brother had never found his soulmate and hoped that he never would.

If the tugging of the string on his hand had anything to say about it anyway. It was currently trying to drag him to the seat next to Lovino as if Antonio's friendship meant nothing to him. Gilbert gulped and walked into the kitchen. Antonio served him up his churros and Ludwig gave him a stack of pancakes, but he didn't think that he could really enjoy it.

Which sucked, because Antonio's churros were delicious and Gilbert loved pancakes. He sat down at Antonio's table, making sure to be as far away from Lovino as possible. The string didn't like that. It tugged on his hand again.

He really did have to wonder whether Arthur was correct. Will the bond force him to pursue Lovino even if he didn't want it to? That didn't seem fair. Though, he figured none of this particularly was.

Lovino's phone went off on the other side of the dining room. He sighed, turning his gaze away from Antonio and picked it up. He seemed annoyed at whoever was calling, enough that he just set his phone down on speaker and finished off his plate, letting a shrill Italian voice ramble in the background. "Lovi! I'm sorry! Nonno fell on the way to the airport and so we had to go to the emergency room! Don't worry! He's not hurt, but fratello, we won't be there for a few more days… Eh, make sure you have pasta this time! You know I get cranky if I don't—"

Lovino frowned and hit the 'end call' button on his cell phone. He didn't seem too worried. Antonio was a little concerned. "Was that Feli? Is Romulus alright?"

"Why would I care?" Lovino said, standing up briskly to put his plate in the sink, leaving his phone on the counter. "If you care so much about whatever my brother and grandfather do why don't you marry them instead! Dumbass." He stormed off to their bedroom, visibly upset.

Antonio looked a little confused, as did Arthur who had just walked into the room. Ludwig was starting at Lovino's forgotten phone as if it had shocked him. Antonio shook his head. "I'm sorry about that. He really doesn't have the best social skills. He's always been this way." He chuckled grimly. "And I should have probably warned you beforehand—"

"Why are you with him, then?" Arthur muttered. Gilbert cringed, realising that he was stepping into his "you bloody mortal! Grow a pair and dump him already" phase of training. Francis smirked a little at Gilbert's reaction. Apparently the albino wasn't allowed to make his own choices anymore.

"…He's cute! That's just how he is!" Antonio argued, looking like he was personally insulted. Then his face contorted into a frown. "Besides, I could ask Franny the same thing about you. You're not particularly cheerful much of the time."

Arthur sputtered. "That's diff—" He cut himself off, seeming particularly frustrated. Gilbert didn't understand why Arthur cared. Sure, this was their job and all, but it's not like Lovino was going to fall in love with an albino freak—who was also German as far as Lovino knew. Maybe this whole soulmates thing was a sham…. Gilbert really was fine alone. Really.

The string pinched his finger. He visibly winced. Having gotten his attention, it started tugging him in Lovino's direction. He resisted, standing firm.

Francis chuckled. Gilbert tried to pay attention to the conversation, but quickly his attention was derailed by a sound that made his string pull tighter. Lovino was crying.

Antonio frowned, but continued to converse with Arthur and Francis, Ludwig awkwardly throwing in a comment every so often. Gilbert's string pulled harder, causing him to fall on the ground. The others stopped their conversing to stare at him. Antonio looked confused, as if he wasn't sure how he could trip over nothing before smiling and giving a little chuckle.

"Ah, mi amigo, you're really clumsy this morning. Maybe you should rest more. You must have been in that plane a long while."

"Nein. I'm good." Gilbert rebuked his offered hand, using the island counter to help himself up. "Gonna go find the bathroom."

He had no real intent to find the bathroom. Instead, he walked down the hallway muttering about the how unfair his blasted string was to try to force him to do something he very clearly did not want to do. He made it to the door of Antonio's bedroom and sighed. He reached a hand up, feeling incredibly stupid as he knocked on the wood.

Lovino's crying stopped only for an irate Italian voice to yell out, "go way you stupid jerk bastard."

"I'm not Toni." Gilbert said. His string was practically purring, rubbing on his arm as if it approved. He'd have to talk to Kiku about this later. His string was clearly defective.

Lovino was quiet for a few seconds. "Leave me alone. Stupid potato… The hell do you want anyway?" Gilbert sighed, stepping back away from the door, deciding not to answer that.

He walked back into the kitchen, feeling more miserable than he had before, though now his string was probably laughing at his half-assed attempt at placating it.

Ludwig looked at his brother as he reentered. "Well, if you are done." He said to his brother. "We have a meeting to get back to." As far as Antonio knows, the group had come for his wedding, but had decided to sign up to join a tour group so they were going to be off every so often.

Antonio didn't seem to question why four people who had come to Spain multiple times and seen most of the many tourist attractions already would need a tour guide. He was mostly unassumingly. Luckily, Lovino didn't know the four of them as well. Gilbert had a feeling he'd be the hardest to fool.

Francis and Ludwig had already showered, but the others hadn't. Once Gilbert and Arthur did so, they went off to the headquarters where the others were awaiting to hear what had happened. Arthur hadn't told Kiku much over the phone, just that it was a emergency.

The ride from Barcelona to Madrid was long, at least to Gilbert. Ludwig was driving the rental car so he knew not to bug him. Arthur and Francis were arguing in the back seat.

Gilbert sighed, hoping that there would at least be potatoes and pizza. And beer, though that was wishful thinking. He didn't want to face the severity of what had happened sober. Anymore pitiful looks or confusion and he was going to go crazy. So what if he didn't want to break up his own friend's relationship for someone who would never want him, regardless if supposedly they would be happier together.

Yeah, it may seem a little hypocritical from someone who's day job was to break up relationships with no regards to whether it was the correct move. Damn, who were the bad guys here? Them or the other side.

He knew the answer. His side didn't kill anyone. But still!

Dammit, he needed a distraction. He reached over to turn on the radio, sifting through stations to try to find one that had alternative music on it.

Ludwig sighed. "Could you not distract me when I am driving?" He reached out with one hand to turn it off, only to be stopped by an unexpected person.

"Oi!" Arthur said, suddenly more interested in the radio than fighting with his husband. "Don't turn that blasted thing off! It's the only thing interesting that's happened in the last four hours of driving!"

When they pulled into the headquarters, Gilbert found that his heart was pounding excessively. He didn't really want to deal with any more of those pitiful stares or tense behaviours like he recieved from his brother, Francis, and Arthur. Well, fine. Lukas, Emil, and Vladimir always seemed indifferent and probably wouldn't stare at him like that and Kiku never showed his feelings, but that didn't matter.

All that mattered was that now it was him and everyone would know about it. Everyone would know that the awesome man who had somehow managed for so long to never have any intimate relationships or a soulmate to his name had finally found his soulmate…. Someone who would never want him. But did anyone?

He didn't normally voice his actual opinions outside of his close friends and even they didn't know it all. He liked the idea of seeming foreboding, vain or arrogant. In the last millennia that he had lived he forced upon himself a façade of confidence, though he didn't think he'd ever felt that way in his whole life. Not really, anyway.

Still, he followed his brother, Francis, and Arthur to the lobby of the headquarters, or as the mortals thought it was, a hotel. The receptionist was a human, one of the descendants of a former Immortal. She was close enough on the family tree that Kiku and the Leader felt confident enough to tell her.

Arthur asked for Floor 13. The receptionist frowned robotically. "There is no Floor 13 here. 13 is an unlucky number. There is a Floor 14, if you meant that."

"I meant what I said and I said what I meant. Luck is a subjective term. I'll take my chances." Arthur replied, a polite smile on his face.

The receptionist smiled in reply, recognising the code the Immortal Immortals used some form of a code at all their different Headquarters. Headquarters used by the same team always had the same codes. Since Gilbert's particular group was mostly contrived of people from the Ailateh counterparts of nations from Europe and a dash of Asia, that's where most of their assignments came from, with a few exceptions.

The receptionist spoke, continuing the chain of the conversation exactly as she was trained. "Well, the elevators are to the right of you. Be careful going up. You can never tell who's watching, si?" She subtly handed him a keycard, their way of accessing the hidden area that they needed to get into.

"You've been so helpful to our cause." Arthur replied as scripted. "I may give this place a good review after all." The woman nodded back, approvingly.

The group headed up to Floor 14 and took a right when they exited the elevator. Arthur stuck the key into a pad beside a door near the end of the hall marked "employees only." The door opened, revealing a room with a hole right in the centre. The group followed Arthur down a ladder positioned against it.

Floor 13 was really just an extra set of rooms—one communal room filled with supplies, one small meeting room, one small bathroom, and a barracks—that rested on the end of Floor 12 and was only accessible through the disguised room one floor above. In the centuries of secret headquarters, the Other Side had never breached one.

Kiku was watching anime in the meeting room, though he quickly shut it off when the group entered, slightly flustered. Arthur and Gilbert both snickered. Lukas and Emil were reading books at the round table, both frowning. Heracles was napping. Somehow a random cat had ended up on his head. The cat wasn't with them in the ship, so Gilbert assumed that Heracles and Kiku had found a stray outside and invited it in the room. They'd already adopted ten strays this millennia from Earth that way and it was only 2017. Gilbert really shouldn't be that surprised.

"You said over the phone that there was a problem?" Kiku asked, concerned.

"Yes, it appears that we massively misinterpreted the reason that the Other Side seemed to be involved with this wedding." Arthur said.

While they had been talking, Vladimir had been in the corner playing with a set of cards, apparently planning a magic trick to show off to his younger brother when they got back. Or to show Arthur and Lukas. They were his closest friends, after all. Now though, he was playing a little bit more attention, his eyebrow raised.

Francis grinned. "It seems our friend Gilbert has finally found his amour!" He dramatically leaned back into what he probably hoped would be Arthur's arms, though he ended up hitting the floor when Arthur didn't bother catching him. His husband just rolled his eyes at his antics.

Kiku blinked. "Congratulations."

"Non! It's tragic! He's insisting that he can reject his amour!" Francis stressed.

"Sacrilege!" Kiku gasped.

Lukas and Emil really didn't have much of a reaction. For the first time in a while, Gilbert was glad Erźsebet wasn't there to see this. He could almost hear her gasp.

"He's Antonio's fiancé! Why would I—I'm not dishonourable! I'm awesome!" Gilbert exclaimed.

"That never stopped you before." Arthur muttered.

Kiku blushed. "Stop making our job look perverted!"

"That's easy for you to say! One time, Franny—"

Arthur's eyes flashed with anger and his husband chuckled uneasily. "Ah, mon ami, if I may tell the story I was just doing as asked! That woman was going to cheat on her husband anyway! The man just needed to see it! Then, I set him up with his soulmate as an… Apology for—"

Francis didn't tell the rest of his story because he was too busy being practically strangled by Arthur. Ludwig was in the middle of prying the man off of Francis as Gilbert leaned back into the chair he was seated in. "See? This is why I'm so much more awesome alone! I'm fine with no soulmate!"

"You have a soulmate dummkopf!" Ludwig exclaimed. "And it is necessary for our mission for you to accept that!"

"I'm not going to date Lovino just because of a mission you arschloch!" Gilbert yelled. "I'll date him because I want to!" He left the meeting room, face flushed red because he sort of admitted that he did want to date his best friend's fiancé.

It just wasn't happening.

I'm not trying to make the group look like assholes, btw. They just don't understand because they've been raised that soulmates are good and you have to do anything to match up soulmates. As stated earlier, the residents of Ailateh aren't necessarily against promiscuity and I wanted to explore that reason. They are also willing to do anything to sabotage a relationship even if it goes against their morals just to get a mission done. I think I'll keep exploring the hypocritical side of the "good side" as well as their good nature.