Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia

A/N: Gah! Trust me to be late for the last chapter... but it's only 50 minutes so I'm forgiven si?

I'm such a sucker for happy endings :') Is it bad that I spent about 15 hours on this today? Writer's block is a pain in the ass... literally, my buttocks are in major pain. But at least it is written x3

~Underwater Land~

In the second before his axe made contact with Lovino, a rush of fearful near-incoherent thoughts screamed through Antonio's mind, begging him to stop before it was too late. What on earth was he doing? This wasn't going to work! No, it had to work! Not working wasn't an option. The momentum in the swing meant the heavy weapon was going to hit Lovino whether he wanted it to or not. He'd been certain that it would work but... but what if he'd been wrong? What if the legends weren't true after all? Every Prince before him that had tried this had given up and now he could see why. The Promesa brought death and power and love; who would be crazy enough to sacrifice their love to get rid of the death and power? But it wasn't a real sacrifice of love, not if he was right but what if... The price was too high to pay if he wasn't. The fear and uncertainty that twitched through his aching muscles threatened to slow the axe's rapid descent but he wouldn't be able to stop it completely.

He flinched and squeezed his eyes shut at the last moment: He couldn't watch this.

Right on cue, the axe hit.

Rattling vibrations shot up the handle of the weapon as it smashed into a hard surface. Almost instantaneously a frightened scream tore free from Lovino, sending a tidal wave of panic and dread rushing through him. Antonio could feel that desperate scream scorching through his throat as if it had come from himself. He wished he was brave enough to force his eyes open but a deep fear kept him rooted to the spot in a breathless anxiety.

The sound of splintering wood followed the scream. There was a loud thump as the blade of his axe fell to the sand, leaving Antonio with its useless snapped handle.

His breath caught in his throat as he tried to gather enough will to dare to find out what happened. The sheer force of the hit combined with the hardness of whatever the blade had come into contact with had given enough resistance for the axe handle to be completely torn in two. Human bodies didn't have that sort of endurance; it was more like hitting a rock. Antonio knew more than anybody that Lovino's body was more akin to a soft irresistible churro than an inflexible boulder. It had to have worked! He could just see Lovino's adorable shocked, confused face in the back of his mind. They would both need a big reassuring hug but everything was going to be okay. He could feel the makings of a smile building up inside of him. When he had Lovi in his arms he wasn't going to let him go for the rest of the week. For the rest of the month even! Because now everything was okay. He could hardly believe it but everything was ok-

An ear-splitting shatter pierced through his mind, followed by a sharp flash of light. Startled, Antonio let out a wail and released the broken axe handle to shield his eyes from the persisting light. It didn't work.

The light turned red and started to pulse through his brain bringing with it pain and doubt. Flashes of Lovino lying dead on the sand hurled at him at a hundred miles per hour, making him clutch his head in a panicked attempt to get them to stop. More blood-filled visions poured through his mind drowning him in a sea of despair and insecurity. He felt so empty. Like all of his soul had been poured down a drain and he needed to be filled back up again. Like somebody had cut out his heart with a blunt stone. Like he'd destroyed his very reason for being alive. Cold, harsh tears streamed down his face as he tried desperately to fend the horrible emotions away and focus on the best ones he had: Love. Instead the cruel light warped that too, bringing back the stinging memory of Lovino standing in the doorway and shouting that he hated him. He tried to tell himself it wasn't true but the phrase echoed around his head, each time bringing more and more pain. He didn't deserve to be loved by Lovino. He didn't deserve to be loved by anyone. Not that any of it mattered anymore because Lovi was dead! A horrifying image, clearer than the rest, mingled with the pain-filled light: Lovino was lying on the floor sliced in half. Blood blossomed over his heart, as red as his unmoving lips, both a deeper crimson than the darkest of poisoned apples. Even in death he was sinfully beautiful. But what did beauty matter to death? Lovi was gone forever. Killed by his own hands. Dead, dead, dea-

"Sh-shut the fuck up!"

So why didn't he sound very dead?

Antonio's eyes flew open and as quickly as it had come the harsh light disappeared along with his doubts and insecurities leaving only relief. Lovino was alive after all! He'd been right. But where on earth had all those horrible visions come from? Something clicked in Antonio's brain about the same time he caught sight of three lumps of ice, sitting un-melting in the sand. Each contained a piece of broken metal: The Promesa. Of course, it was the after-shock of emotion brought on by its destruction. Merely a side-effect of his plan working.

He breathed in sharply as he finally looked at Lovino. For a moment he felt only happiness and the urge to sweep him off of his feet; Aside from an angry looking red mark on his chest and some cuts, courtesy of Arthur, Lovi was unharmed. Then he noticed that his hands were pressed to his ears and he was shaking his head as if he were hearing something nobody else could hear and was trying desperatle to shut it out.

Lovino's knees buckled beneath him and sent his crashing to the floor. Every part of him was shaking desperately. Antonio could even see his cute little hair curl quivering. Lovino's eyes flew open, wide-eyed and glazed over as if he wasn't really seeing anything. He was still going through the side-effects, Antonio realised slowly starting to worry. What doubts were enhanced in Lovi's mind? What was the last of the Promesa's magic making him live through? What were the things that scared him most?

He dropped to his knees when Lovino whimpered and slowly pulled him into his arms. "It's not real Lovi. Whatever you're seeing isn't real okay? Whatever you're thinking just remember I love you."

Lovino stiffened in his arms and then let out a big breath, blinking as his eyes slowly came into focus. "I'm n-not an i-idiot..." His eyes narrowed as if insulted but he squeezed his arm tightly. "I know you l-love me, you ass."

That was when Antonio finally cracked a smile. Not a half-hearted upturn of the lips or a manic grin but an actual smile. Whatever was left over from his earlier anger, frustration and worries was completely erased by those two cute red cheeks. There was no doubt about it: he was helpless to resist the charm of Lovino's blushes. Watching them he truly felt... knew that everything was going to be just fine. And what more did he have to worry about now that the Promesa was not only not on Lovino's wrist but broken and completely useless to everyone?

Lovino didn't fight when Antonio tugged him onto his lap. The last of his awful thoughts disappeared when the merman pressed a reassuring kiss to his cheek. How could he have ever felt even for a split second that Antonio was going to kill him? Sure it was heart-stoppingly terrifying to see a huge sharpened axe that could easily cut through him as easily as if he were a tomato, rushing down in his general direction but... Okay that just answered his own question. He was pretty sure anyone (Antonio didn't count because he was a thick-head) would have had a moment of terrified, arm-flailing panic at that but the point was Antonio would never do anything to hurt him. He bet there wasn't even a doubt in the bastard's mind that he could have cut him up instead of doing… whatever it was he did.

"I'm so glad that actually worked Lovi!" Antonio leaned against his forehead and grinned happily. "I thought I'd sliced you up there for a second. Looks like the old legends were true after all~"

"Y-you were basing that off a legend?"

He groaned when Antonio nodded against his head enthusiastically. Why was he not fucking surprised? He was about to shout at him when the merman stopped nodding and his happy smile subtly transformed from 'I just ate a rainbow~' to 'I want to eat a Lovi~'. He'd quickly learned the language of smiles and it was times like these that it helped him out immensely. Or at least it would have helped him out if the bastard wasn't so damn strong and he could actually get away from his perverted grip. Instead he just had to glare at him and hope that his trembling (seriously body, what the fuck?) wasn't too noticable as the bastard slowly stroked his face. "I've wanted to hold you properly for ages Lovi. Ah, you feel so nice to hug and squeeze and touch, I could just do it all night~"

Oh he freaking bet he'd try as well. Not that Lovino was going to push him away just yet. Antonio was being awfully slow and careful, and if he just closed his eyes and focused on his touches then some of his built up tension and nervousness might actually go away. Too much had happened in such a short space of time and he was sick of being brave and scared and worried. He just wanted to go home already, curl up on their sofa and lose himself in a nice dream. It felt kind of nice when Antonio started to trace light circles over his trousers, so he didn't try to stop him. His breath hitched as the circles drew up his leg, becoming less innocent and as Antonio's hand drifted teasingly closer to-

"Y-you crazy son of a bitch! What the bloody hell did you do?"

Arthur's voice smashed through the quiet, painfully reminding him that not only were they not alone but they were also surrounded by crazy psycho bastards who until a few seconds ago had been trying to kill them. There had to have been something wrong with him if he was forgetting important details like that just because the bastard was touching him. He was starting to think whatever was wrong with him had nothing to do with churros and everything to do with the way Antonio made his heart race too fast. Whatever it was that was driving him insane it was all the bastards fault anyway. He smacked the hand away from his leg and looked up in time to see Antonio's smile twitch. "Would you like the long story or the short one Artie~?"

"You tried to break the unbreakable promise didn't you?" Lovino shifted just a little bit closer to him, when Antonio looked at him in surprise. Everything was slowly beginning to pull together in his head. It all still seemed impossible to him but at the same strange time began to make sense. If the Promesa was strong enough to bring Antonio back from the brink of death (or however the hell close he was to it) and heal up all nice and new just so that he could carry out the promise to protect him then surely the damn thing would have stopped the bastard from kil… doing the exact opposite of protecting him. "It protected me because the promise was unbreakable but at the same time it broke because you tried to slice me to pieces, meaning the unbreakable was broken. Right?" And now he needed a freaking aspirin.

"Si Lovi. It broke because I tried to hurt you!" Antonio's smile faded seconds after he said it. "Well I wasn't trying to hurt you. I didn't want it to hit you but obviously I was trying to hit you but I wasn't at the same time." He made a bewildered face as if he were confusing himself (which the bastard probably was) before giving up with a sigh. "I was certain it wasn't actually going to hit you Lovi. Completely certain! Well I was until I swung the axe, then I got a little worried I might have been wrong and that was really scary Lovi. Really, really sca-"

"Because having an axe chucked at my face by my psychopathic bastard of a lover wasn't fucking scary at all!" Lovino said sarcastically and was just about to head butt Antonio's chest to teach him a lesson when he realised that the bastard was staring at him with sparkling eyes. "Wh-what?"

"Lo-Lovi… That's so…" Antonio swallowed as a little haze of red dusted his cheeks. "Cute. Ah~ you're so cute! You called me your lover! And in front of all these people too and… Ahh~ cute!"

Lovino would have rolled his eyes but he was too busy trying to peel Antonio's face off his own. The merman was rubbing against his cheek like a hyperactive kitten. Trust the bastard to only take notice of that part of the sentence and ignore the rest of it.

His hand slipped across Antonio's face, leaving a bright streak of red on his cheek. He froze as he stared at the blood, and then down at himself. For some reason he didn't understand, he found himself relieved, actually relieved, when he saw that the cuts on his chest were still bleeding and the blood was his own. Well that was a lie, he did understand it. For a split second he'd thought that Antonio was wounded again. But no, the bastard was just fine, only having that small streak of his blood smudged across his cheek, the rest of him was completely clean…

What the hell? That wasn't right! Antonio had been covered in blood. They'd both been covered in blood! The blood from all of those mermen that Antonio hacked to pieces while twirling him around. Shouldn't they have been sitting in the blood now? Oh shit, had Antonio really messed up his brain that much that he hadn't even realised that they were surrounded by bloody corpses? Oh... apparantly not because they weren't surrounded by bloody corpses at all. Or clean corpses or any types of corpses at all. Lovino never thought he'd actually be scared about a lack of dead bodies but then he guessed he'd never thought he'd be seduced by an idiot with a tail either. Ever since he'd met Antonio he world had been opened up to a hell of a lot of strange things.

"What the fuck happened to all the dead bodies?"

Antonio motioned upwards. A couple of huge bubbles were slowly floating towards the surface of the Kingdom. One with an orange sheen gleamed iridescently as it caught the light and merged with the water above it.

"You've got to be freaking kidding me." He whispered staring at the last of the see-through bubbles. He had to be stuck in some jack-up fairy-tale. He just knew it. "Where are they going?"

"Back to the sky I think." Antonio brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes before giving him a squeeze. "Isn't that where we all go?"

Lovino watched them until the last one melted into the ocean. Something flashed in his memory and he looked back down at Antonio wincing even as he thought of the question. "Did Gilbert go too?"

"No he did not, you unawesome little brat!" Lovino whipped his head around at the voice just in time to see the blonde merman gently pulling Gilbert up and resting him against his chest. "Ow Mattie, don't be so rough with my awesome body okay?"

Lovino couldn't tell whether he was relieved that the idiot was okay or pissed off that he wasn't in more pain. There were too many mixed feelings swirling around his head when it came to Gilbert and he'd honestly rather just forget about him but the bastard did kind of save his life which he supposed made it okay for him to be a tiny bit worried about him. But only a really tiny bit.

The bastard still had red streaked through his hair and the bandage around his chest wasn't so white anymore but he settled back against Mattie's chest with a red the same colour as his eyes on his puffed out cheeks. "You don't get rid of me that easily kid. I'm not an unawesome pansy like Antonio and plus Mattie's healing skills are damn awesome!" He shifted his gaze to Antonio and his expression soured. "When I said 'keep him safe' I didn't mean hurl your unawesome axe at him you fucking psycho!"

Antonio chose to hug Lovino a little bit tighter instead of taking up the urge to punch the wounded Gilbert in the face. It was tempting but he wasn't going to risk Lovi being mad at him so quickly and plus then he'd have to let go of him and that was something he definitely did not want to do anytime soon. "Ah, a psycho huh? Maybe you should worry a little more about yourself then si? You are in the psycho's Kingdom after all~"

Gilbert met his eyes in a challenge but seconds later he snorted as if he'd heard a joke and then turned back to Lovino. "Seriously kid, what the hell do you see in him? Just humour me, what makes him bett-"

"That's enough." Mattie cut him off in a firm but soft voice. Gilbert glared at him but Mattie simple stared back with large sorrowful eyes, refusing to back down or get angry with him. It kind of looked a bit like a big fericious rottweiler trying to intimidate a little puppy and loosing epically. Gilbert sighed and patted the blonde on the back with a small smile before catching Lovino's eye again.

"I'm in love with this idiot. I don't-"

"It's okay, I get it Lovino." Antonio felt Lovi stiffen in surprise as Gilbert grinned widely, suddenly seeming to accept everything. But he could just see the merman gripping one of Mattie's hands tightly as if it were his only lifeline. He was actually going to let Lovi go. "I'm just too awesome for you to handle. Don't feel bad about it. There are only a few people who are awesome enough to handle my awesome, right Mattie?"

Antonio felt Lovi twitch on his lap. "You bast-"

He tugged him around, regaining his attention and beamed at him. "It's okay like this isn't it?"

Lovino leaned towards him, opening his cute little mouth to no doubt say something like 'shut the hell up bastard' before pulling him into a long over-due kiss. However he was annoyingly interrupted by an irritating voice that made him wish that his axe wasn't broken so he could go and take care of its owner.

"Oh for the love of tea! If you wankers don't stop ignoring me I'll run you all through with my sword. Don't you idiots even know what this means?" Arthur stalked towards them, sword swishing dangerously at his side.

Antonio was taken by surprise when Lovino growled. "Get the hell away from us you bastard! If you even think about touching Antonio with that sword you're going to be one fucking dead eyebrow!"

"Oh please, are you going to cuss me to death?" Arthur laughed still walking towards them. Antonio recovered from his surprise rather quickly when he felt Lovi squeeze his wrist and start to shake. There were no pretences of a smile for Arthur; not that the merman was paying much attention to him. If he had been he would have noticed Antonio's hand slip around Lovino's earlier abandoned sword. Someone else was did notice though. "I'll bet you'll start screaming the moment I point the weapon in your directi-"

Alfred roughly pulled him out of the way just before he got within range of Antonio being able to stab him. Antonio scowled, the stupid eyebrow was lucky he had somebody looking out for him, even if he didn't realise it. "Come on Artie, this isn't very hero-like. We're all upset because now nobody gets to be the big boss. I'm practically grieving over here! I wanted to make Wednesday's cape-day and set up a burger bar in every Kingdom and now my dreams are ruined but you don't see me getting all cranky about it!"

"Oh shut it you twit! Don't you get it at all? This is serious!"

Alfred slung an arm around his shoulder and beamed at him. "I knew you'd think so too! I mean it is seriously serious how the last burger I ate was this morning. Can't we get some decent service around here?"

Lovino watched as Arthur became increasingly more annoyed with every passing second, the more annoyed he got the louder Alfred laughed. He was still squeezing Antonio's wrist and he knew it had to hurt but he couldn't seem to let go or relax. Hell, you try and relax when there's a crazy big eyebrowed bastard waving a sword around way too close to your face. What's more it was worrying him about what was so apparently serious. So the Promesa was broken, big deal! Nobody could be King but then nobody had been King for ages anyway, if he believed what all these bastards had told him. The bangle had something to do with which Kingdom was Atlantis; he remembered that much but surely that was just a name. It didn't actually mean anything did it?

"What does Atlantis actually do?" He turned to face Antonio, slowly because he was still weary of the eyebrow bastard but apparently it was too slow for the merman because he practically swivelled him around on his lap, grabbed his legs and tugged them either side of him and pulled him as close as he would go. As close as he would go turned out to be pretty darn close too. Lovino tried to squirm away when his face was pressed against Antonio's warm chest but the bastard only held him tighter. He would have carried on struggling but he suddenly became very aware of excatly what he was wriggling against. Oh crap, he had to get out of this position somehow!

"The Atlantian Kingdom gets to set all the laws Lovi. I was kind of the big boss before these guys invaded." Antonio twirled a piece of Lovi's hair around his finger savouring the feeling of his body tight against his own before interrupted Arthur's and Alfred's argument pleasantly. "I don't see what's so serious though. Why don't you just share control si?"

Both Alfred and Arthur shut up for a second and looked towards the smiling merman like he was insane, which to give them credit he supposed that maybe his mad axe ramapages weren't excatly the kind of thing the completely sane would do. Arthur finally sighed and ran a hand through his hair irritably. "Because idiot, then we'd have a set of mixed laws that would end up like this: Befriend every human you see, then mate with then before slow roasting them over a fire and dosing them with vodka before consuming their bodies~. How the hell are we going to share control when everything wants something different?"

"There has to be a way." He looked at Lovi who was trying to pound his chest into oblivion with little punches in a half-hearted attempt to put some distance between them. Antonio caught one of the hands that flew at him and wriggled his fingers between Lovino's, smiling as he grew noticeably more flustered. "What do you think mi amor?"

Lovino paused in his struggles to look at him wildly. He'd been trying really really hard to pay attention but it was difficult to do that when he was completely focused on the fact that he was practically freaking straddling the ridiculously warm bastard and the position wasn't entirely unpleasa- was awful because there were people watching them! They were fucking gawking their eyes out! And there was no way in hell that he was actually enjoying being this close to Antonio at all after all the scares he'd been through. It wasn't comforting in the slightest! Hell it was as awkward as if he'd been straddling...

Ludwig! It was as awkward and horrible as if he was straddling the potato bastard! Imagining that it truly was the muscle-ridden potato bastard underneath him and not the confident, sexy, unbearably ho… Not the person it was, gave him a little bit more control over his flustered mind. Enough control to glare at the merman that was not at all between his legs.

That was until, Antonio shifted against him in a way that could have been innocent but the brief second of friction completely destroyed Lovino's attempts at calming himself down because all his attention was focused on muffling a startled moan. The wicked grin that Antonio sent him, told him that it most definitely wasn't innocent. Fucking bastard…

The same bastard quirked an eyebrow at him and Lovino realised he was still waiting for an answer. He opened his mouth to tell him some random nonsense when it hit him. Antonio was asking his opinion about the mermen as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It may have seemed like a little thing to someone else but it made him feel as though he was actually worth something. Hell who was he kidding? Antonio always made him feel like he was actually worth something. He gave up trying to push the merman away because really, if Antonio wanted to hold him, he was going to damn well hold him and instead used his now free hand to squeeze the merman's.

"Maybe you could hold a giant meeting and all vote on the ideas or something, bastard." He mumbled just saying the first thing that came to mind. But the way Antonio's mouth transformed into a little 'o' shape, told him that the merman had taken him completely seriously. Lovino only wrapped his legs and arms around him because Antonio was obviously so much of an idiot that he would have probably let him fall onto... onto the horribly dangerous, sharp and pointy sand if he hadn't. It had absolutely nothing to do with him thinking that Antonio looked kind of charming (Pssh, like he'd ever even thought that word before) when he was surprised.

"Ah~ Lovi you're so clever!" Antonio grinned at Arthur, too busy enjoying Lovi hugging him to care who he was grinning at. "That's sorted then. You can just have a meeting every few month and vote on everything!"

"That's ridiculous! Utter poppycock, outrageous an-"

"As the hero, my vote counts for 3!" Alfred cut him off and pumping a fist in the air. "Oh and I'll take Mattie's vote too, so that means my vote counts for 4!"

"Leave Mattie alone you unawesome prick! He'd much rather vote with me anyway right Mattie?" Gilbert flashed a grin at the flustered blonde who hit him lightly over the head but then thanked him for shutting Alfred up.

"Fine! I still get 3 votes though."

"Shut up, you little git! If anything I should get more because I'm older and more experienced than you!"

"Yeah, well think about it this way old man…"

Lovino turned away from the energetic arguments and looked back at Antonio who was still grinning like the big sappy idiot he was. The grin turned into a softer smile when he locked eyes with him. "I think it's time we went home cariño."

He exhaled in relief and finally let his guard down. Staying sitting upright suddenly seemed far too much trouble so he decided to just give the fuck in already and crashed his head into Antonio's shoulder. He'd had no idea just how long he'd been waiting to hear those words and the 'we' instead of 'you' completely erased any lingering doubts he had that Antonio was actually going to stay here.

Of course the bastard was going to stay with him. Maybe he wasn't perfect but Antonio certainly wasn't either and that was part of what made him love him. He could see... No, accept now that the merman wasn't suddenly just going to change his mind and leave him. Maybe it took a few scary bastards and near-death experiences for him to figure that out but he'd got there in the end. It didn't even matter if some fucker tried to steal Antonio away because he knew now that he was brave enough to fight for what he wanted and would not only claim the damn bastard back but kick that fucker's ass in the process. So despite everything maybe he didn't completely regret letting Antonio drag him into this underwater hell after al-

"Wh-what the fuck are you doing?" Lovino shrieked as Antonio's hands slide underneath his butt and gave it a firm squeeze.

"Wrap your legs around me tight or you'll fall~"

"Wha- AH!" Lovino did as he said when Antonio jumped to his feet, hoisting him into the air by his butt. He took it all back! All of it! He regretted it with all the fucking regret in him! Damn the bastard and his excessive touching! He glared at him, willing his cheeks not to blush like they were freaking traffic lights. "What the hell idiot?"

Antonio sighed dreamily and gave his butt another squeeze, laughing when Lovino squirmed and tried to swat his hands away. "I think I'm going to carry you like this from now on Lovi. I get to touch your butt and I can feel you-"

Lovino dragged him into a kiss, refusing to let him voice the sentence out loud but he felt the bastard smile against his chaste kiss and shivered when the muffled word was spoken against his mouth.

He pulled away when a loud wolf-whistle made him even more aware of the people still around them. Ignoring Antonio as he pressed sweet kisses to his neck and cheeks and pretty much every damn place he could reach (which was even harder than it sounded, especially when the fucker got a little impatient and bit his shoulder), he realised that his wrist felt very...bare. He was honestly glad that the Promesa was gone but a bigger less nice realisation had dawned on him. "I guess we're not engaged anymore."

Antonio stopped the assault on his shoulder and smiled. "That can be fixed Lovi!" He bit his lip, looking a little embarrassed. "I didn't really propose properly the first time anyway. I got a little nervous ahaha…~"

"Who the fuck says you get another go huh? It's my turn now you bastard and I'm going to beat your wussy proposal into the wall!"

Antonio's eyes darkened and the smile on his face bordered on predatory. "Is that a challenge?"

"You beat your ass it is." Lovino smirked right back and wrapped his arms around his neck, tugging him closer. Right now he couldn't give a fuck about the bastards watching. Hell let them. They'd probably learn a thing or tw-

"Big brother!"

Lovino snapped his head around sharply at the sound of Feli's voice. His brother was running towards him, followed closely by Ludwig and the pervert. Oh crap, he'd forgotten about them.

In a worry, he loosened his legs around Antonio's waist, only for the bastard to tip him backwards with a faux-innocent smile, letting him know that if he let go he would send himself crashing to the -admittedly soft- sand. He glared but tightened his legs all the same, making sure that to squeeze his thighs together tight enough for Antonio to wince. Satisfied with his revenge, he turned to his brother. "Everything alright idiot?"

Lovino scowled at Feli's nod. "Well it won't be for long because I'm going to kick your ass later for hiding everything from me you little jerk!"

"Wah! You're so mean Lovi!" Feliciano squealed but he didn't run away like he usually would have, instead tilting his head to the side and smiling as he took Ludwig's hand. "You're leaving now right? Take care of each other and make sure you ring me every single day okay?"

Lovino crossed his arms, which was harder than it sounded since they were almost pinned to Antonio's chest, and grumbled but Antonio flashed Feli a smile and nodded. "We will! You two come visit us sometime okay?"

Lovino held back his comment on exactly what he thought about the potato bastard coming to visit them when Antonio waved at the little group of people and practically bounced towards the Palace gates. He couldn't suppress a smile. They were actually going home! And nothing was going to stop the-

"W-wait! Where are you going? Nothings sorted out yet!"

Lovino felt his face fall at Arthur's voice. We're these people ever going fucking to leave them alone? Antonio turned around, swinging to smile brightly at the little collection of mer-Princes that were all staring at them. "That is not my problem~"

"What the bloody hell do you mean? You're still a Princ-"

"I'm handing the throne to Francis."

"Moi? What really mon ami?"

Lovino echoed the thoughts in his head, watching Antonio's every move and hardly daring to believe it was true.

"Of course! I'd trust you with anything!" Antonio's smile twitched a little. "But if you touch Lovi's cute little butt, I'm going to have to have a little chat with you~"

Lovino jerked his head around just in time to see Francis backing away with both hands on display. "No chat necessary mon ami! What are words when it comes to amore? Consider the Kingdom in very capable hands."

Lovino tugged the bastard's arm to get his attention. "Are you sure about this bastard? I don't really mind." Well he did but that wasn't the freaking point. If nobody was going to be stabbing things at them anymore was sure he could tolerate it. Anything for the bastard. "You don't have to give it up."

Antonio nuzzled his face before smiling at him. "I want to Lovi~" He started to leave again when Arthur shouted at them to come back. The smile turned to a grin. "Hold on tight!"

Lovino did just that as the merman sprinted out of the Palace gates and through the town, just as quickly as he'd ran through it earlier that day.

xXxXxXxXx

It was only when Antonio ducked through the gap in the wall, taking them back into the rocky little carven that Lovino realised they were going to have to go back through water again.

He eyed the luminous pool of water nervously as a big flutter of fear kicked up in his stomach. It wouldn't have surprised him if he never got over his fear of the ocean after all he'd been through. He squeezed his eyes shut as his old memories flickered in the back of his brain but a hand stroked his chin, dispelling his fearful panic before it even began to take place. "Are you going to be okay?"

He nodded but tightened his arms around Antonio's neck. He could make it through this one last time because the bastard was there. But after that he was never setting foot in the ocean again, no matter how hot the merman waiting to hold him there was. "Make it quick."

Antonio frowned a little but then kissed his forehead and gave him a light squeeze. "Of course, mi amor. Of course."

If Lovi wasn't ready yet that was fine but someday he would teach him that the ocean wasn't something to be afraid of. At least not when he had a nice loveable merman to keep him safe. It would take time and patience but Antonio had lots of both, especially when it came to his Lovi~

xXx 5 months later xXx

"You can do it! Just keep kicking!"

"Haha, of course I can do it bastard! look at me, I'm like a freaking fish!"

"You're amazing Lovi~" Antonio smiled at the boy in the water who was holding onto his hands and kicking through the calm sea, moving towards him at a steady pace.

The moon was low in the sky and the sea was dark but he could clearly see the big adorable smile on Lovino's face as he splashed messily through the water.

"Want me to let go now?"

Lovino shook his head and gripped his hands tighter. "Don't."

Antonio nodded and pulled him in for a hug. It had taken an awful long time to coax Lovi into the sea, but after he started going out for midnight swims he had followed him out to the little pier... and fallen off again a few times. Then one night Lovino had stood on the shore, the sand sinking around his feet before finally coming into the water on his own. After that Antonio took every chance he could to teach him how to swim and in return Lovi had been teaching him how to dance~ How wonderful was that?

They swayed in the sea for a long while, just listening to the sound of the wave crashing against the shore. Life was remarkably simple in their little beach house but neither of them would have had it any other way. Antonio was about to reluctantly release him when Lovino's foot brushed against his tail, making him shiver as a moan caught in his throat. Once upon a time he would have passed that action off as innocent and let him get away with it; that time had long past.

"You know," Lovino trailed a finger along the ridges of the tail, smirking when the merman bit back another moan. The tail had been his constant source of amusement ever since he'd found out just how sensitive it was. Finally he had a chance for payback for the curl and by fuck he'd taken that chance and ran with it. "This reminds me of the first night we spent together."

Antonio tugged him closer, swimming lesson completely forgotten as per usual. If Lovi didn't keep distracting him every time they came out, he probably would have been able to swim ages ago... not that he was complaining about this particular form of distraction.

A loud splash caught their attention. Antonio pouted when Lovino darted away from him, removing the delicious pressure from his tail. He was still holding his hands though to keep himself afloat.

A little grey head popped up to the surface, creating little foamy waves around its head. The dolphin started to speak in a series of slippery clicks and squeals waiting for Antonio to nod and reply some similar noises himself before the pretty creature dived back down into the depths of the sea.

"Right Lovi, now where were we~" He hooked an arm around the small of his back and pulled him closer again but Lovino was looking out after the dolphin a little breathlessly and Antonio couldn't help but smile.

"What did it say?"

"Ah, Francis was just wanted to let us know that he has the perfect venue picked out ~"

Lovino tore he eyes away from the little foamy trail that the animal was creating and scowled. "Anyone would think it was his wedding."

"Aw, come on Lovi~" Antonio leaned back to float on the gentle sea and lifted Lovino up to lie on his body. His tail gently buffered them through the silky water. "He's just excited. Can you blame him? I'm excited too!"

Lovino's arms trailed lazily through the water, either side of Antonio's body as they moved and Lovino turned his head to hide his smile. His feet were curled up comfortably near the bottom of the soft tail. "Still doesn't give the bas…" His throat dried up as Antonio playfully bit his neck. He scrunched up his toes against the tail and muffled his moan into Antonio's chest.

"I can't wait to have you as my bride mi amor." The merman whispered before he gently lifted Lovino's face and kissed him as they drifted beneath the midnight stars.

Lovino shifted into the kiss, desperate to act on the growing pressure inside of him that he didn't fully understand. Fuck he loved the bastard. Even when there kisses grew messy and desperate, they still took his breath away. No longer did he feel embarrassed about the little moans that escaped his mouth as Antonio pushed his tongue against his own because now he could hear the low moans that seemed to answer his. What could be better than sharing a kiss with the bastard he loved whilst drifting through the water and listening to the ocean gently lap the shore? All Lovino could think was that maybe he didn't hate the beach quite so much anymore. All he'd ever wanted was right here in his arm-

Lovino pulled away from the merman and shot him a questioning glare, arms shaking as they held him up. "Did you just call me your fucking bride?"

"Si!" Antonio ran his hands up Lovino's back and tried to pull him back down. "Now come back my lovely bride, I'm not done kissing you yet~"

"You ass!" Lovino sat up with a scowl, shifting his legs so they were either side of Antonio's tail and he was sitting on him much like one would sit on a surfboard. "You absolute ass. If anything you're the bride, you stupid smiley bastard!"

"Bu-but Lovi…" Lovino felt himself melting at the sight of Antonio's pout and allowed himself to be pulled back against his tempting chest. It wasn't fair; Antonio knew he couldn't resist the pouting. The cheating bastard. The merman's mouth brushed against his ear. "I've already found you a dress~"

Before he could even think of all the things he wanted to hurl at the bastard, Antonio flipped him over and laughed as he splashed into the shallow water near the shore. He stole a quick kiss from Lovino while he was still startled and then used his newly transformed legs to the best of their ability.

As the sea lapped gently against his stomach, Lovino wondered how on earth Antonio still managed to make his heart race and distract him so much that he didn't pay any attention to his surroundings. After all this time the love he'd felt for the idiot had grown even larger if that was even possible. He watched with a fond smile as Antonio ran towards their beach house, slowing down every so often to glance over his shoulder and make sure he was still there.

He could still remember all the fighting as clear as if it were yesterday. He found it hard to believe that everything was over now.

Lovino shook his head with a grin as he finally stretched to his feet deciding that he'd given Antonio enough of a head start. "Get back here, you fucker! I am not wearing a damn dress to my wedding!"

It wasn't over.

It was only just beginning.

Told you I was a sucker for happy endings x3 Everyone got one... ;A; I really hoped you enjoyed the ending and the whole story in general!

In the end I thought it would be cuter for Lovi not to have a tail, I hope it didn't dissapoint you too much!

I'm really going to miss waking up in the morning and reading all the amazing reviews from you guys. Thank you for inspiring me so much! This is not only my first 'romance' story but it is now the longest story I've ever written and the first one I've ever properly completed x3~ So thank you again! Let me know if you like it ;)