Hello, guys!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! After six months of delay, here I am!

｡ﾟヽ(ﾟ´Д｀)ﾉﾟ｡

I'm so late in updating this fic! I'm so sorry! As I explained in my personal tumblr, I tried to finish the extra chapters of this fanfic first, before posting what would technically be the last part of it but hey! That would take too long and I want you guys to know that I'm alright and I'm still working on this so here it is! The new chapter! This chapter would be originally the ending to this story and, as a warning, you may find it a bit anticlimactic!

Since this story was originally a one-shot, it was a realistic and suitable ending for the people who read the whole story at once, but I don't think it's enough for people who read this story for YEARS. That said, It's going to take a while, but I'll post here extra chapters showing some special scenes that happen after this chapter! I really hope you will have fun with those too!

Honestly, you guys are awesome and thanks to all the support I received here, I will keep doing my best to bring more PruAus stories to you. This was the story that motivated me the most to write to the international side of the fandom and I really don't have enough words to thank everyone here! Of course, I also need to thank once again the incredible miss Zeplerfer who helped me again with the revision of the text! Her support during all this time has been extremely valuable to me, and you have no idea how much she helped me to give you a proper translation of this story! She's just amazing as a person and writter and, again, I need to thank her for everything she did.

I must also give special thanks to Crimson Cat Angel(love you too), ConfusedCosplay(Waaa! Thanks! I'm glad this chapter made you happy!), alphonseMuchaLucha(I'm glad that you enjoyed it and I hope you will like this chapter as well!), cinkun(But of course! A true aristocrat never loses his ways!XD Aww, thanks! It really was a hard work!), Autumn Moon Fae(I do my best to keep the boys in character in all the situations!), CodeVassie(First of all, thanks for this long and lovely review. It really made me so happy and I truly appreciate it. Indeed, this a story with no bad guys and yep, I did my best to make the characters complex and human. They have good and bad sides and their point of view isn't always right. I'm glad that you enjoyed it because your feeling of "getting pissed off with everyone but wanting to give them a hug too" was kind of my goal!), Tsingy-Me(I'm a VERY slow writter and translator but I'm never going to give this up), FleshDelirium(Hey! Waaa! Thank you so much for leaving such a great review again! Yeah, the characters grow in this one! Especially Roderich! There's actually some parallels between the first chapters and the last ones if you ever stop to read this fic again!), Haru Kuwamine(SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT FOR EVEN MORE AGES), Misaki Haninozuka(WAAAAA! Thank you so much for this adorable review! Indeed, Gilbert and Roderich have very different personalities and this shows when they confess to each other!), gdesertsand(Yeah! That was a Sherlock quote! Not the first time it appeared too! Also, about your question, don't worry. That's all I have to say for now!), Noire Knightmare(VLADMIR IS SUCH A GREAT NAME FOR A CAT) and JeSuisUnePomme(Well, I hope this new chapter will be a nice surprise for you too!) for leaving reviews. You guys are so freaking awesome. Thanks for everyone who liked and followed this story as well. You really make my day.

Without further ado, I wish you great holidays, boys, girls and lovely people outside the gender binary! I hope to see you all very soon! Take care and have a wonderful day!

PS: If you want to, please, leave your ideas for what you would like to see in the extra chapters!=D

Chapter 15.

We stayed in silence, staring awkwardly at each other for a while.

That would be the perfect time to put the sound of crickets in the background. Roderich confessed to me – in the real world, for real, actually happened. – and I confessed my feelings to him in return. Now, neither of us had an idea what to say.

After six years of running away from the subject, we were aware of each other's feelings. Although, we were still justifiably perplexed about what had just happened, there was no secret about this topic anymore. So what now? What should be our next step?

What? Were we supposed to simply run into each other's arms now? Was I supposed to laugh and spin Rod in the air and finish the celebration of our new relationship with a big kiss? Not a chance. This response didn't fit our personalities at all. We were not at a cheap love comedy.

Make no mistake. That wasn't about how I was feeling or about what I wanted. I wasn't even in a cynical mood at the moment. I was really happy. Absurdly happy. I was making a physical and conscious effort to not let the traces of my face lose control and embarrass me with some goofy expression. So how can I explain it…? Hm.

That was actually about timing. Rod and I had denied our feelings for each other for six years and that still had a huge impact on us. I mean, it's not like we didn't know of their existence. No one is that stupid. However, we had never explicitly talked about them before and we tried to erase them for the longest time in all these years. In my case, I pursued various priorities and occupations to distract myself in order to avoid thinking too hard about it, and, according to Rod's testimony, he tried to be rational enough to persuade himself that his feelings had other meanings.

That's why it would be bizarre if we suddenly got mega-comfortable with each other and started to make out in my kitchen. For god's sakes, until a week ago, I was his wedding planner! A week ago, I was trying really hard to convince him to marry another man, using my professional authority to give my opinion about the matter, and suggesting what would be an ideal waltz for their party. Come on! Give me a break here!

Our feelings weren't new but their exposition, in turn, was very much so.

Since the history of our relationship could hardly be classified as "normal", we didn't have many references or directions about the path we should follow. If we had to put it on a time scale, let's say that my feelings for Roderich and his feelings for me seemed to begin in the Paleolithic period and that our mutual confession would be set close to the time of creation of bluetooth.

It would be ridiculous to expect that our relationship would do such a dramatic jump as that bone that turns into a spaceship on that very strange film about a black monolith.

In the end, obviously, we had to do something about what just happened. We just had to identify first what would be the correct "something to do".

To my surprise, it was the Roderich that broke the silence and made the first offer.

"Perhaps we should we go to adisco that plays the songs of the eighties and drink some cuba libre while dancing to the hits of 'Flashdance'?"he asked shyly, putting a hand over one of his shoulders and applying more weight on one of his legs standing in a position that unintentionally expressed his high discomfort with this mental picture.

I wasn't prepared for this response at all. A wave of laughter came so violently to my body that I ended up having to wrap my arms around my upper body to keep a hold of myself, bending over laughing so hard.

"Pffff! Seriously, young lord?!" Man, I was laughing so much I was about to cry. "Are you even trying?!"

"I am trying!" he protested with a slightly red face.

I kept laughing because he was just adorable but I was aware that, yes, he was trying. In his own adorably embarrassing way.

Roderich had broken his engagement very recently. It was extremely unlikely that he was completely unaffected by the circumstances. Sure, he was in love with me – he was in love with me! Wow! Seriously! WOW! – but that didn't mean he didn't feel anything at all for Vash. He was engaged to the guy until a week ago. The two of them were childhood friends. There was no way that he was so indifferent to the end of their relationship. He was just trying to keep it cool in front of me and knowing that, I had to give him some roomto breathe instead of being reckless and hurrying things too much. Not to mention that it would be disrespectful to Guillotine if we started dating so casually as soon as they broke up, as if we were together for all those six years and their relationship didn't even matter to Roderich.

Certainly, they needed time to talk and figure out how to solve some unfinished business between them and that was okay. Even if six years were a long time to wait, we needed to go slow. We could go slow.

Our interactions over the years had been so hurried, intense and full of risks that it would be good to, at last, get to know Rod far from sentimental dilemmas and work problems. To be able to talk about anything with him at the best pace for us, while being open about our feelings.

For me, that was more than enough.

"Here's my deal for you, Rod," I said with a smile, making a soothing gesture to him. "No fancy restaurants and no nightclubs. How about we go to a cafe a few blocks from here and talk for the rest of the morning about ANYTHING not related to engagements or weddings?"

His shoulders distinctly relaxed with the perspective of following plans contrary to what he had suggested and he released a deep sigh of relief.

"I don't object to this proposal." As he said it, one of the corners of his mouth gently moved, in what would be one of his versions of a smile.

"Great." I laughed briefly. I was infected by his palpable relief and captivated by that subtle expression of happiness.

So we went out and… Ah! I almost forgot to say! One slip almost ruined that moment.

While taking Roderich to the door of my apartment, I decided to hold his arm and I ended up doing it just as I did two weeks ago in a totally different context because it was totally by instinct. However, when I touched him, I felt the tension caused by this movement and realized in the same second what was going on.

For a second, I felt as if I had accidentally triggered a red button and started to hear the sirens warning of turning it a bomb about to destroy our planet. 'How did you screw this already, Gilbert? It's been less than five minutes since we started to go out with Rod! Goddamnit!' were the first thoughts that occurred to me but then I began to think more clearly about it and I asked myself... Those memories brought by our fight were actually bad to keep in mind?

I mean, what would happen if my fight with Roderich had not reached those proportions? He probably would keep marrying people he didn't love and accidentally hurting the feelings of all the parties involved. Meanwhile, I would just keep working for him because sometimes I turned 23% less amazing, 10% dumber and 13% more masochistic in my interactions with Rod. It would totally suck.

That fight was important and even if it was a painful memory, it was a good one to keep in mind because of what we learnt from it. Sometimes it's necessary to discuss hard stuff and have conflicts to figure things out and if there's mutual respect, this can actually help. In the end, lands where volcanic activity happen are the most fertile of them all.

With this thought in mind, I laughed again and I ran my fingers on his skin until we were holding hands. Then, we looked at our hands together, we looked at each other's face and we looked at the door.

Considering my usual nonchalance to touching Rod and the fact that, on another occasion, he openly requested me to sleep with him, holding hands should be nothing exceptional, I admit that this was a surprisingly embarrassing moment. Here we were. Nervous as two eleven years old playing truth-or-dare. That wasn't the first time I held Rod's hand and definitely would not be the last, yet it was the first time that contact had special meaning and I felt the need to be careful to not ruin the moment by rushing things.

To think we would behave as two teenagers as thirty-and-something years old guys. Man, that was really shameful and corny.

Damn, I was happy.

With a bit of anxiety and hope, we went through the door of my apartment.

You know, I'm not a romantic and I have witnessed too many weddings to remember the details about each one of them but I can assure you that I can vividly remember the moment when Rod and I were walking on the sidewalk and I looked at him and just seeing his expression at that moment, I felt the natural and spontaneous realization 'you know what? I could spend the rest of my life with this person' coming to me.

Oh, so that was the feeling ... It was not "melodramatic" or "saccharine" as Rod would call it, but I must admit that it was kinda special. It wasn't an overwhelming feeling. It was simple, comfortable and good. As I wished our routine would be from that date.

However, I would only consider participating in any marriage involving Roderich in, AT LEAST, a decade. AT LEAST. Even if I would get to be the groom this time. Sorry, Rod. I waited six years. You can wait ten.

((Later, the pancake shop and my photographer angrily called me because there was no one at home when my food and my potential date arrived. The aristocrat just kept calmly drinking his coffee, with a very discreet smile, watching screaming in my phone that more important commitments had appeared and that I couldn't care less if they never tried to set me up with someone ever again.))