About Falling

Chapter One
Being a high-schooler was hard enough with the classic, never-ending assholes, insane piles of work, and trying to find a way to balance the never-ending pressure of academics with all of the drama happening around someone. If you were ahead in either one, you were God. If you got left behind, there was little chance of catching up. Life moved quickly.

Lovino had been in this school for three months, and had earned a bit of a reputation. He was the intelligent, but lazy kid who had a short temper. It tended to drive others away. At the end of three months, the only people he could call honest friends were Matthew and Antonio. The thought of the Spaniard made this odd feeling swirl in his stomach. He was a junior whom took Lovino "under his wing", even though the two were polar opposites.

Antonio was cheery, optimistic, athletic, tall, muscular and incredibly handsome. He was perfectly tanned with brown hair that have a slight wave to it and his eyes. He had eyes that were an undescribable shade of green. They were bright and warm and inviting. Even though he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, the brunette was kind and funny.Lovino was a short, scrawny, loud pessimist with messy auburn hair. What irked the Italian most about his hair was that one curl. He believed his eyes were the only good quality of him. They were an amber-green color, with flecks of brown and gold. Although, they were nothing compared to Antonio's large, charming orbs. Lovino's mind started to drift off, not even hearing what the teacher was saying.

''Lovino sat in a lush, green field and stared at the sky. He heard footsteps slowly approaching, and sat up. Antonio sat down next to him, flashing the Italian one of his adorable smiles. He had a face made for a smile.''

''"Lovino," the Spaniard said. "I know I haven't been entirely straightforward about his, but neither have you. I'm in love with you..." He started to lean closer...''

BRRING! The bell broke the glorious daydream. He looked down at the worksheet and noticed markings that led him to believe there was writing on the back. Lovino flipped the paper over to see "Antonio Fernandez Carriedo" doodled numerous times. "FUCK NO!" He yelled.

Most of the people had already cleared out, so the only ones left were Francis, Arthur, Ludwig (Lovino made a face of disgust once he saw him) and Antonio. At the sight of Antonio, he crumpled up the paper. "What do you want, bastardo?" He glared at the Spaniard, his face still red.

"I just wanted to know if you were okay," Antonio grinned so widely and in such a charming, attractive manner. It was like he was trying to mess with Lovino's mind. "How about I buy you lunch?" He offered.

Lovino looked over to Francis, who seemed to raise an eyebrow and smirk. His blue eyes cast back to the ball of paper and then to the Italian's still-flushed cheeks. It seemed the Frenchman had put two-and-two together.

"I can buy my own lunch," Lovino tried to walk away, but Antonio had grabbed his hand, emitting a deeper blush from the Italian.

"I know, I want to though~" the Spaniard chirped as the two walked down the halls.

"Well, as fucking sickly kind as you're trying to be, I have to go." He was about to walk away when Francis came onto his other side, pushing him closer to Antonio. "Dammit... Seriously?" He glared at the Frenchman who simply smiled.

"I can put two and two together, mon ami," He smirked.

Once they entered the cafeteria, Francis practically forced Lovino into a seat. "Honestly, I don't need you to be my lunch, and I should sit with Matth-"

"He can surely withstand your absence for a day." Francis winked. "Come and play with the big boys, Lovino!" He smirked as Antonio walked to the lunch line to buy his and Lovino's lunch.

Lovino went red somewhat. "Cazzo," he muttered. "Why am I here? Aside from the stupid kindness of Antonio's heart." he said. Francis smirked but didn't respond.

"Now, how long have you liked mon ami?" he asked, gesturing to where the Spaniard disappeared. Lovino's face flushed even more.

"How... What makes you think I like him, bastardo?" he asked, avoiding the subject.

The Frenchman smirked. "Please Lovi. ("It's Lovino, the Italian interrupted) Like I said before. I can put two and two together. In fact..." he reached over and stuck his hand into Lovino's left pocket.

"What the hell are you doing?!" The Italian shouted. "I'll give you three seconds to get your hand out of my pants or I will murder your soul."

He pulled out the crumpled worksheet, uncrinkled it and then flipped it over. He smirked at what he saw. "You do like him~" he sang just as Antonio walked up holding the trays.

"Who does Roma like?" He asked, a slight disappointment in his green eyes.

"N-n-no one, idioto! If you excuse me, I need to go talk to Matthew for a moment." Lovino shot out of his seat before either Francis or Antonio could stop him. As he did, he heard Antonio's confused voice.

"Was it something I said?"

"Oui, in more way than one, mon ami."

Chapter Two
"Are you okay, Lovino?" Matthew asked. "You've hardly touched your food. Something's on your mind."

The Italian jabbed at his pasta with his fork. Antonio hadn't even asked what he wanted, yet managed to get exactly what he was craving. Yet, no matter how hungry he was, he couldn't take a bite. "Nothing's on my mind, I'm just not hungry." Lovino lied. The blond arched an eyebrow, but didn't question, and kept eating. He brought his food from home. Dill pickle chips, and something he called Poutine. French fries covered in squeaky cheese curds and gravy. Lovino had no clue how Matthew liked them so much, they looked gross but the Canadian-American insisted they were good.

Lovino questioned his sanity at that a little bit. A shadow fell over the table and Lovino glared up, thinking it was Alfred or some other jock. But it wasn't. It was a certain Spainard.

''Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Fucking SHIT, ''the Italian thought. God, why me?

"Hola, Roma~ Hola, Matt," Antonio grinned cheerifully. The latter of the two smirked at Lovino before getting up.

"Well, I have to go. I need to advoid the jocks. Don't need to be stuck in anymore lockers." Matthew said, flatting his hair over one eye before leaving. Lovino glared after him.

"What the hell do you want?" Lovino snapped, glaring at the Spainard. Hurt flashed his face for a second, but was replaced with another grin as he sat down.

"I just wanted to know if you wwere still having trouble with Espanol. If you are, I can tutor you! Mi espanol es muy bueno, ya sabes!~" The junior sang, his eyes bright.

"Only cause your family was in Spain, therefore growing up speaking it, stupido," Lovino said, sticking his tounge out at him.

"Your point? It's still good," Antonio cheered. "So? Does Roma need help?" Lovino paused, but nodded nonetheless. "Great, what are you working on?"

Lovino paused before saying, "I think it's ser and estar." Ser and estar were the verb forms of "To be", and depending on the situation, or subject, they were used differently. You also had to conjugate the verb endings depending on the subject of the sentence.

And they also happened to be, just like like most Spanish words, the Italian's mortal enemy.

"That's easy, Roma! Come over tomorrow around noon, and I can-" Antonio broke off as a burnette jock -Lovino thought his name was Mark- came over.

"Hey. You, Fish. Did you see Matthew's face? Quite the improvemt, I think. He looks better with a black eye if you ask me!" He laughed, and Lovino felt his face flush with fury and hate. He was certain that even his annoying hair curl was red with anger. Lovino scanned the crowd, and caught Alfred's face, his blue eyes fixed on Mark, face flashing with anger. Huh, so he really didn't know his friends were picking on his younger brother, he thought. Points for him on that, then. Lovino stood, ignoring Antonio telling him to sit so nothing would happen.

"Let me tell you a few things, bastardo. One. My name, is Lovino Vargas. Two. You hit my friend. Three. Prepare to die!" He yelled. The senior sneered and aimed a punch at Lovino, which he easily dodged, hopping behind him and sweeping his feet out from under him, and Lovino kicked him in the gut and danced away as the older got up, a ugly leer on his face which some how made him look worse than normal.

"You... You are dead." The senior spat, face flushing in rage. Lovino sighed, and grabbed his lunch tray, dumping the food onto the floor before hitting Mark with it upside his head.

"Really," The Freshman taunted. "I don't know why but, I thought you'd be better than Zuko. Nonetheless, based off of what just happened, am I really dead?"

"Mr. Vargas." Lovino cussed. He knew that voice. Miss Inca's voice. The prinipal. Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Yes?"

"Come. With. Me." She spoke rather slowly. Lovino spun around and mimicked her tone.

"Why. Are. You. Speaking. So. Slow?"

She scowled but gestured for him to follow, which he relunctantly did. He had been in her office enough to know what it looked like by heart.

The walls were a ugly, pale pink-grey. Pictures of her and her cats lined the walls along with some of the ugliest paintings he'd ever seen. The woman herself wasn't very attractive. She had quite a long face that was much too narrow for her black, bug-like eyes. Her teeth were large and she oddly resemble a rather hideous horse Lovino had ridden when his was sick.

"Mister Vargas," she began to speak. Her high-pitched, snooty voice had a tone that nauseated Lovino. "Why did you attack Mister Wigglesworth?"

Lovino sniggered at the name. "Listen, Inca. He has been harassing my friend since the fourth grade! Today, he crossed the line, and I retaliated by kicking his ass."

She glared at him. "When adressing me, you have to call me either Principal or Ma'am. Anyway, I assume you know about the big game that Mark is expected to play in this Saturday?"

"Of course, who hasn't? It's all anyone has been bragging about. Treating the players like gods when all they do is hit something with a stick. He can play with a black eye anyway..." Lovino folded his arms, annoyed.

"Ma'am," she corrected.

"I don't think there's a need to call me 'Ma'am', Principal Inca." Lovino smirked. "I am a teenage male after all." The nmost this would do is get him a half hour detention. Principal Inca pursed her lips over her horsey teeth, and scowled.

"Two hour detention Monday morning. Be here at 5:30 in the morning so you're not late for your class. One hour for beating another student, and one hour for being a smart-alec. You may go." Lovino stormed out, cussing under his breath.

A two hour detention! Grandpa was going to murder him.

"Roma!" Lovino paused, grateful for the distraction from planning his own funeral. "Are you okay?" Antonio asked as he caught up. Lovino nodded. "Great! Listen, something came up tomorrow, Mother needs my help with something, so how about we study after school today instead?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure. What the hell ever," Lovino shrugged as the two walked to their next class. Lovino might have been a Freshman, but he had several higher grade level classes. And the Spaniard happened to have the final class of the day with him.

"Brilliant!" Antonio cheered as they walked into World History.

They were on the Roman Empire. Lovino had to admit, he liked this class. It was interesting to see what his ancestory had done before the Empire fell.

"And in the 210's, the Empire began to colonize parts of Spain, however, they didn't fully have control over Spain until about Ceaser Agustus' time." Lovino glanced over at Antonio, who had a slight scowl on his face. He clearly didn't like the idea that his country had once been ruled by anyone other than itself. Antonio met his gaze and Lovino stuck his tongue out.

A piece of paper hit the back of the Italian's head and he unfolded it. ''Do you want a tutor or not? I mean, honestly, don't mock Spain in front of a Spaniard silly!'' Antonio's message had a few hearts surrounding it. Lovino rolled his eyes and scribbled down the word Bastardo before passing it back. The message seemed to have gotten intercepted because around fifteen minutes later, a larger sheet came back with the smaller one inside. His hazel eyes read over the messages on them, each blow having a tiny sting. But the tiny stabs kept on coming the longer he kept on reading. One sting didn't hurt, ten didn't, but it had pushed him over the limit. Now it was a gaping wound conjured by tiny jabs. He had found the worst one. Honestly, the nicest one wasn't gentle either.

''Hey faggot. What the hell is going on with Antonio? Hes not a gay bittr ass like u! wanna make the world a better place? Kill urself. I think ur brother wll lik it bttr that way to.'' It wasn't even the worst one. No, that was the typical message. Threats were to him mostly, some to Matthew, some to Feli. The ones who wrote threats directed towards the last who were the ones whom Lovino believed needed to die a slow and painful death. Someone could mess with the Italian, but once you touched his loved ones, things would get bad. He flipped the page to the back and saw a rather-nice message.

''Don't listen to those guys, Lovino! You're beautiful <3 ''The message may had been a lie, but it was sweet. The handwriting was merely illegible, as if it were written with someone's bad hand. However, it had rather familiar looking hearts doodled around the message. Lovino looked up at Antonio and raised an eyebrow. "You?" he mouthed. The Spaniard blushed a bit and shook his head.

The history lesson lasted for about ten more minutes before the bell rang. He grabbed his things and started to walk with Antonio, making sure the crumple and toss the paper in the wastebin. "So, Lovino, I heard you like someone!" the Spaniard grinned as he wrapped his arm around the Italian, causing a blush to grow on his face.

"Francis has no idea what he's talking about. Everyone in this school is an idiot, and the few that aren't I just don't find appealing."

"What about me? I'm not a idiot!~" He laughed and ruffled the auburn hair of the Italian. "And last time I checked, I was very appealing! At least, that's what people tell me. What do you think, Lovi?"

"Lovino," he corrected the brunette. "And you're somewhat attractive, just not to me." Lovino couldn't help but thinking he saw a flash of sadness in the Spaniard's green eyes. The lie was worth it though; Antonio would never fall for him. The Italian felt guilty for putting pain in those beautiful, usually happy, emerald orbs. "Oi! I'm just saying that I'm not interested, don't be such a baby. There are probably billions of girls who are desperately in love with you."

"I'm not being a baby!" he whined. "Anyway, we should be at my house soon." the Spainard told him cheerfully as they walked up to an old Victorian styled two story house. The brick was painted a nice gold, there were perfect bunches of Red Carnations growing in the flower bed. There were white shutters by all the windows and smoke was coming out of the chimney. It had a cozy, welcoming feel to it. The Italian felt an urge to run in and jump on a bed, the feel was so strong. Antonio must have caught the look on his face because he laughed. "Fusosososo!~ Grandmother wouldn't like you too much if you did jump on anything, amigo!"

"She should meet Grandpa, he-" Lovino broke off as his cellphone rang, he glanced down at it and Feli's name was flashing on the screen under "New text message". Lovino rolled his eyes and read what he sent.

'''Lovi! Where are you? Grandpa's angry because he can't find you! Call him or something, big brother!''

-Feli' Antonio glanced at the screen and smirked.

"Is really controlling?" he laughed, finishing the earlier sentence, and Lovino nodded as he dialed his grandfather's phone number.

"Lovino Romano Vargas!" a booming voice came from the other end, causing the Italian to wince. "Where in the name of Jupiter are you?"

Lovino rolled his eyes. "Just with a friend doing schoolwork. I'm perfectly fine."

"Ooh," the harsh tone faded. "Is it a lady friend?" he pursued, causing a blush to spread on Lovino's cheeks.

"No! Just Antonio, idioto."

"Oh, why didn't you come out sooner? I mean, Antonio's a very nice boy, why don't you invite him over? I don't really judge." his grandfather told him.

Lovino simply replied "No." before hanging up.

"What did he say? Coming out? Does he think I'm your boyfriend?" Antonio cocked his head, much like a confused puppy. It was adorably innocent.

Lovino's face went from a faint red to a loud maroon. "He doesn't know what he's talking about! Age has made him delirious, the bastardo can hardly tell left from right." Antonio pinched his flushed cheek.

"Your blush is so cute, like a tomato!" the Spaniard laughed.

"Shove off, I'm not cute." Lovino crossed his arms. "I'm hideous, stubborn, violent and I have the worst temper ever. I'm anything but cute."

"I don't understand... Why do you lie?" Antonio smiled and ruffled his auburn hair. "You're smart, funny, attractive, determined, loyal and perfect. You're amazing."

"No, I'm not." Lovino argued. "You just have a lying problem."

"Do not! Just admit you're amazing!" Antonio folded his arms.

Lovino smirked. "One mustn't tell lies. To say I'm amazing would be the biggest piece of bullshit ever uttered. Honestly, stop lying."

"Honestly, you're too stubborn for your own good..." Antonio rolled his green eyes. "Anyway, should we get on with the tutoring?"

"Oh yeah... I forgot about that." Lovino said, unsure of whether or not he would be able to concentrate.

Chapter Three
The pair walked into the kitchen. Lovino looked around the house. It was perfect. The living room had the flair of Spain, the Spanish flag hanging on the wall. The TV was on, but the speakers on the show were all talking in rapid fire Spanish. Lovino couldn't even begin to try to understand what they were saying.

Antonio sang, as he leaned over, and pulled out Lovino's notes. Horror filled the Italian, what if he had doodled Antonio's name on his notes somewhere? After all, he had zoned out at times, his mind trailing off into impossible daydreams. He glanced at the paper, trailing it over and let out a sigh of relief as he noticed that nothing was written there except Spanish.

"Very well done, Lovi!" the Spaniard smiled. The Italian shot him a questioning look. "Well, most of the words are spelled right~ That's good, Last time i saw your Spanish the words were spelled in Italian."

"Well, the Italian way is always the proper way," he folded his arms. "Spanish just murdered the way things are spelled. I mean, it's not nearly as bad as French but it's still terrible." the Spainard shook his head and let out hi asnnoying laugh.

"Fusososo! We didn't murder anything, amigo! We enhanced it!"

"Name one thing," the younger challenged.

"Tomatoes."

"Right, but in Italian, we have the best word for tomatos. We call them 'pomodori' Best word ever."

"Suree, now to the tutoring. Now, estar is used for temporary situations, ser for situations that last forever. For example, hair, or eye color. Or gender. Unless you get a gender cha-" Antonio was cut off as Lovino hit him up side the back of his head.

"Oi! Stupido! Shut it!" he groaned. This was going to be a long tutoring.

"What? I'm just saying, it's possible, but for the most part, you would use ser." Antonio kept on speaking, ignoring Lovino's words and slap. ''He's so thick-headed sometimes... ''Lovino noted to himself.

"Just, don't confuse me any further." the Italian told him.

"Fine, Roma." he laughed.

It had been nearly two hours, and they made close to no progress. Lovino still didn't get it. In all honesty, the Italian wanted to scream. Anotonio saw this and couldn't resist.

"Repeat after me. Tu esta muy frstuado! Fusososo!" he laughed.

"Oh screw you!"

"Is that a promise, Roma?" the older laughed harder when he saw the blush that spread across the younger's face. "Okay, how about this. I tell you something in Spanish, you translate it and then tell me which form I used and why."

"Va bene," the Italian sighed.

"Usted es muy, muy impresidante." Lovino scowled, and repated what the Spainard just said into English.

"You are very, very amazing. Estar because... erm, it's a temporary thing?"

"You got that wrong on purpose, amigo! You know it's ser, because it cannot be changed. I saw it in your eyes. At least you know it~" he sang. "How about esto contendo con usted?"

"I am happy with you? Does that even have estar or ser?" he asked, confused. Antonio nodded. "Erm... I... I don't know?"

"It's estar, temporary."

"That's nice."

"Not like that, amigo!"

Lovino rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Next one?"

"Try-"

"Antonio! Where are you! Necesito tu ayuda, hijo!" a woman's voice rang out from one of the upper leveled rooms.

"Si, Mama! Just a moment!" he called back, worry flashing his eyes for a moment before he hopped up and raced up the stairs, leaving Lovino sitting there, stunned. A few moments later, the Spaniard came back running a hand in his hair. "Amigo, you must go. Mama isn't very well, she's sick. Don't need you getting sick, si? We'll practice more after school Monday if you still need help."

Lovino nodded. "Is she alright?"

"Fine, amigo. Perfectly fine." There was a crash upstaris and Antonio's eyes flew up. "Well, pretty sure."

Something inside told Lovino that the Spaniard was lying. His voice was filled with a tragic concern, even though he put a smile on his face. "Well, I should go." he scribbled down his number and handed it to the Spaniard. "Text or call me if you need any help..."

Antonio smiled. "Will do!" he cheerily told him as Lovino started to walk out of the house. Walking home wasn't too hard, considering it was only a few blocks away. Now, if he could just make his way home without running into any of the infamous bastards that infested his life he would be fine.

"Hey! Faggot, come here!" a rather slurred voice came from an alleyway. "I missed you after school today! Too busy fucking your little boyfriend, eh?" Mark soon staggered out of the dark corner, far too intoxicated to walk in a straight line. He walked closer to him, a revolting stench of beer coming from his breath.

"Idiot, I kicked your ass when you could function properly, I can do it even quicker when you're impaired." Lovino shoved him off.

"But, you see, I'm not alone. What you did seemed to have pissed off a few friends of mine." he smiled, and as if it was a scene from one of those crappy gang movies, more of his pals came from the alley. "Now, where's your little friend? I believe he decided to come to our little party, right John?"

The slightly tanned brunette nodded. "It was fun, hearing him cry. How shy and quiet, but rather loud when he's in pain. You should've heard him. 'Lovino! Alfred!' it was hysterical!"

Pure hatred flared in the amber-green eyes of the Italian. "What did you do to him? I swear, if you hurt him anymore I will fucking eat your brains for breakfast and cut off your heads and shove them up your asses! And I swear I will not match head to ass! Where is he?"

"Probably unconcious in the alley. Go look if you want to." Mark smiled sickly.

"I fucking hate all of you and I hope you have fun rotting in hell." Lovino shouted as he walked down the narrow path. He stumbled over something, or someone. He used the light from his phone to see what it was. A sick, angry feeling churned in his stomach as he saw a bloody and beaten face. The man had golden hair with a little curl.

"Matt, wake up..." Lovino shook his friend's shoulder. "Dammit, I fucked up... I just made things worse for you. I'm going to call your brother, okay? It'll be okay." he picked up the light Canadian and kept on reassuring him.

Alfred was standing on the sidewalk, rage apparent in his blue eyes. "What the hell! I swear to god, I should press charges on you bastards! That's my brother! I will bloody kill each and every single one of you! I swear to god I will! THAT'S MY BROTHER!" he screamed and Lovino heard a loud smack. It appeard Alfred had slapped one upside the face, and picked one up and tossed him into a garbage can. Points on that. "If Mat gets so much as one fucking scar, I will run all of you over with a truck and toss you off the Empire State building! And then I'll rip your arms off, make you walk on an island made of legos and thumbtacks! And if I'm pissed enough, I'll rip off your fingernails! And shove toothpicks under your toenails! Then murder you with a fucking grape!"

"Nicely put," Lovino told him. "Took you long enough."

"Always willing to be the hero for my little bro," Lovino set down a now-awake Matthew who ran to his brother. Alfred gave a rather sad smile, and his face was much more serious than usual.

"Lovino, need a ride home?" the American asked. "I'm not sure if I'd want to walk home after what just happened. Besides, you're on the way to the hospital. I just want to make sure Mattie will be okay."

"I guess so," he shrugged. "But, I'd much rather go to the hospital with you. He is my friend." My only friend, he added to himself.

"Oh, okay. Whatever you want, dude." Alfred told him.

Lovino was much too worried in the car to daydream. It was a break from his pitiful routine of a lovestruck fool, but not how he had wanted to receive it. He took out his phone and sent a text to Feliciano. "I'll be at the hospital, tell Granpa I'll be coming home a bit late."

It wasn't long until his phone rang again. "Lovino, what the fuck happened? Why are you at the hospital? Are you okay?"

"Fine, Grandpa, it's Matthew. Some jocks beat the shit out of him again, after they gave him a black eye at school, which is why I beat the fuck out of Mark and got a detetion." Lovino hoped if his grandfather knew why he was in trouble, he'd go easier on his punishment.

"Wait, you beat one of them up? Tell me you honoured your Roman blood and at least left them worse off," Grandpa begged.

"Didn't get a scratch, now I got to go. Matthew looks like he's about to pass out."

"Wait, how did your date with Anton-"

"Goodbye!" he hissed, and hung up sharply. Granted, it would had been nice if he did have a date with the Spaniard, but that wasn't the case. ''Unfortunately... Maybe one day I'll grow a spine and ask him out, but he wouldn't like me. I don't even like me.'' At this point, his mind had started to wander off into impossibly sweet and tender daydream that, when faced with the brutal truth of reality, became longing nightmares. Matthew, he had to focus on Matthew.

"Lovino?" the blonde looked up at him, his indigo eyes filled with pain.

"Shh, we're almost here! Just hang on for a little bit longer. Just hang on, Matt." Lovino soothed him and ran his long, thin fingers through the Canadian's soft, golden hair. "You'll be okay."

Alfred turned around sharply. "Lovino! Stop talking like that! You're acting like my little brother is going to die! He won't and you know that he won't!"

Lovino's eyes grew wide and shocked as he heard the harsh seriousness in Alfred's tone. It was frightening, not that he yelled or anything. It was the graveness in his tone and the worried concern in his blue eyes. The solemnness of the American surprised Lovino, as he thought it was something that was impossible for the blonde to muster. It was terrifying.

Once they were at the hospital, Lovino's nerves had settled slightly. The doctors said the Matthew would be okay and that was all he really wanted. Alas, he sat in the chairs, waiting for permission to enter the hospital room.

''"Lovino!" Antonio called from the kitchen table. Papers were scattered about on the surface. "Come on, sit down! We've got a lot of work to do!"''

''Lovino sighed and rolled his hazel eyes. "I'm coming, bastardo!" he responded and took the chair across from the Spaniard. The Italian tried to get rid of the fluttering in his stomach, but the attempt was futile. It became even stronger when the brunette grabbed his hand when he had tried to reach for a pencil.''

''"No, we're not writing today. Instead, it'll be a verbal lesson." a small glint of flirtatious mischief sparked in his emerald eyes. "I'll say something, and you have to translate is and give me the base of the word and the subject. Understand?"''

''"Si, I'm not stupid." Lovino replied.''

"Usted es muy, muy bonito."

''"You are very, very pretty?" Lovino asked, flushing red. Antonio nodded.''

"Si. Now, Ser, or Estar?"

''"Ser... because... it's a permanent quailty... God, can you make me sound any more Narcisstist?" he asked''

''"It's true though!" he laughed, getting up and walking over to sit next to Lovino. ''

''"Creo que me estoy enamorando de ti." he spoke, his voice quiet.''

''"H-hey... Does that even have Ser or Estar?" Lovino asked him, his face flushing even more.''

''"No tengas miedo, el amor." ''

"What? Oi, stupido, I can't understand-" he was cut off as the Spaniard leaned in a bit more and crushed his lips against the scarlet-faced Italian's. Lovino stood for a moment in shock, but soon kissed back happily, and ran his fingers through the soft, dark brown waves of Antonio's hair.

''"Te amo," the Spaniard whispered after the kiss was over. "I have for a while."''

"Mr. Vargas?" the doctor came out of the room. "You can come in to see Matthew now."

Lovino snapped out of the daydream and entered the room. "How are you doing, amico?" he sat down next to the bed and saw the blonde smiling sweetly at him.

"I'm fine, a little sore but fine. Nothing's broken." the Canadian said. "I'm a bit hungry too, would you mind getting me some food?" he asked meekly.

"No problem, Matt. I'll be right back." the Italian told him before exiting the room.

"Antonio! We need to go soon!" a familiar voice came from down the hall. It was the voice of Antonio's mother. ''But, she was sick, why would she need to go? Wait, Antonio's here!'' Lovino felt a little jolt of excitement at the name. ''Dammit, why do I always get so excited at just the thought of him. Hold yourself together, idioto.''

He soon saw the Spaniard with a middle-aged woman. She walked rather weakly beside him, although the look in her brown eyes made him think the Antonio was a stranger to her. "His name is Lovino, Mami, and he's very nice. I think he's a very good person, although he doesn't think so. You'd like him." his voice was sad as he spoke. It was his mother yet she seemed to have no idea who the teenager was.

Mrs. Carriedo bent down and picked up a little plastic wrapped and gave it to him. Antonio smiled widely and held it in his hand. "Gracias." it seemed he had just noticed Lovino.

"That's your mother?" Lovino asked, trying to be sensitive.

"Si, she's been in here for a few years," he had a smile on his face, yet a heartbreaking sadness filled his green eyes.

"Then, who is the woman you live with?"

"My grandmother, Papi's in here too." he turned away in shame. "You probably think they're crazy or something, but they're not! They're my parents and I love them, even if they don't exactly recognize me..." he mumbled the last part.

"Antonio!" a grey-haired, short and plump woman came walking down the halls. "Say goodbye to your parents, we should go soon." Antonio nodded and walked back into the room. "Not nearly as good of a man as his father was. A bit of a disappointment, to be frank."

Lovino looked at the woman with disdain. "Antonio's a great person! Sure he can be a bit dorky at times, but he's amazing and his parents would be proud of him!"

Antonio's grandmother folded her arms. "He's nowhere near as amazing as my son was!"

Lovino glared at her and ran towards Antonio. He grabbed his hand and tried to muster up some words. "I don't think they're crazy, and they seem to have some recognition of you. I mean, they seem fond of you."

Antonio smiled weakly, tears beading in his eyes. "They were soldiers and were captured by a few criminals from the opposing side. Bludgeoned, beaten and tortured for information, but they didn't budge. I'm quite proud to be their son, I'm just not sure I want everyone to know just yet."

Lovino hugged the now crying Spaniard. "They'd be proud of you too."

"No, I'm stupid," the Spainard muttered sadly, "You should hear Abuelita talk about me."

"Antonio, she's old, and stupid as all hell. You're patient enough to put up with me, you're really funny, you're incredbily loyal and protective,  and you're one of my best friends." the Spainard smiled, and shook his head.

"Liar."

"How do you think I'm amazing, and you're not. What sort of logic is that? Besides, you're always calling me a bastard and an idiot, I'm confused. You're a very fickle person." Antonio shrugged and opened his mouth  only to be interrupted by Lovino.

"How do you think I'm amazing, and you're not. I mean, everyone seems to love you. I, on the other hand, am loud, obnoxious, too violent, short-tempered, short, ugly as hell and just overall not amazing. And I'm only joking... most of the time, anyway." Lovino told him.

"Antonio, why do you still have that trash?" his grandmother's green eyes were focused on the candy wrapper. "Throw it away." she turned around, unaware that the Spaniard had put it in his pocket. "We're leaving, come on."

"Bye, Lovino~ I'll see you in school?"

"Si," the Italian replied. "I'll see you later... bastardo." he added with a laugh. He walked down to the hospital cafeteria and bought a few pancakes for Matthew. They weren't the greatest quality, but food was food.

"Lovino!" Matthew greeted him once the Italian reentered the room. "What took you so long? Was there a large line?"

"No, I just ran into Antonio and we started talking. I'm sorry for taking forever and a half." he apologized and handed the Canadian his food.

Matthew seemed to laugh a bit at Antonio's name. "I see, I mean, I can't blame you, Lovino. He's very attractive to the eye, and he seems nice," Lovino blushed at his friends word.

"What are you implying? I d-don't like him! He's a stupid bastard!" the Italian tried to cover it up, but his cheeks were not fading.

Matt reached up and patted Lovino on the head. "Aww, how sweet." he teased, before wincing slightly in pain. "Ow..."

"Serves you right!" Lovino crossed his arms. "Making fucking false accusations like that!"

"Where's Alfred? I'm just worried he's going to get arrested for homicide... They really angered him, huh?" Matthew's indigo eyes became filled with a different expression. It wasn't sad, angry, happy or concerned. The neutrality in his face was something unknown to the Italian.

"They could have killed you. Matt! Damn right, they angered him! If they didn't, I may need to be arrested for Alfred's murder!" Lovino patted the messy, dark golden hair.

"Hey bro, I'm back. I doubt that they'll mess with you again, Mattie. I took care of that." Alfred swung around a baseball bat, now splattered with scarlet splotches of blood. He wore a smug expression, and walked into a room with the swagger of a hero with an inflated ego. "I think they'll take your feelings into consideration."

"Oh my God, Alfred, please tell me you didn't kill somebody." Matthew's violet-blue eyes widened in fear, and kept on switching focus from his brother, to the bloody bat, to Lovino.

"I didn't kill anyone! Just gave them a taste of their own medicine! None of them are unconcious... I think." Alfred laughed awkwardly. "Just a bit wounded."

Lovino looked at his watch. 'Well, I should be getting home, before my Grandfather gets too mad. Make sure you rest okay, have your somewhat-bastard of a brother take care of you." Alfred glanced up. It seemed after the day's events, a sort of bond formed between them. They would never be the best of friends, but Lovino didn't detest him like he had. Alfred tried to help Matthew.

He walked over, and awkwardly put a hand on Lovino's shoulder, "I... Thanks. For... Taking care of my baby bro."" Lovino nodded.

"Least I can do. He's my... One of my only friends," The Italian had been about to say 'Only friend' but Antonio's face in his mind made him stop. As Lovino left, he felt his phone vibrate. Grabbing it, he read the message. It was a number he didn't recongize.

"Hey, Lovi! It's Antonio. Mama and I just got back home, I hope i'm not being nosy, but what were you doing at the hospital? I thought you went home." Lovino saved the number to his adress book, nicknaming him "Amo" before replying:

''Some bastards, Mark and a few others, beat Matthew up. Pretty badly. I called Alfred and took him to the hospital. ''Send.

"Ah... Hey, you don't... like Matthew, right?"

''What? No, he's just a good friend of mine. You and him are my only two, you know.'' The Italian took a second to ponder why Antonio asked, certain thoughts making him red in the face, but it was a rather weird thing to ask... was it not?

Chapter Four
Lovino walked up to the end of the driveway, at the Latin styled home, custom built. The house opened into a narrow hall, which led to a large room. The Muddroom-Den. It had a empty pool in the center which everyone kept their shoes. Shoes weren't allowed past this room, his grandpa ordered. The room which came next was the garden room. All the other rooms branched off from this room. To the left, came the four rooms, which, were all large, one room for Lovino, one for his little brother, Feliciano, who was an 8th grader, one for Grandpa, and one for guests. The study-office room was to the right, the kitchen next to it, and the dining room was across from the kitchen, and the bath -Roman Styled bath. In Lovino's opinion, you hadn't lived until you had a Roman bath- was in a large, three roomed... bath house in the backyard, it branched off of the study-office.

The maids were in the kitchen, making the complex servings which made up an Italian meal. Like the Romans, Italians knew how to eat. First came the Antipasti (It meant, before meal), which today was a Russian Salad, then the bread and soup(Cirionla, and Banga Cauda), then the main course, Ravioli. The first two courses were lighter, harldy enough there to eat. They drank wine rather than water. Some kind of cultural thing. Then finally, dessert. Today's was Baba.

"Lovi! Granda Fratello! Sei a casa!" Feli was sitting in the garden, lying in the hammock, his girlfriend lying next him. She had long, dirty blonde hair which was slightly curly, large, grey eyes, thin eyebrows, and a kind soft voice. Together, they were about as happy as could be, and the sight of them together always made Lovino smile. He'd never admit it, but he was soft on his baby brother.

"Duh. Hey, Feli, Marlene." she grinned sweetly, and waved back lazily.

"Oh! Lovi! How'd your date with Antonio go?" Feliciano asked, sitting up slightly. A blush spread across the elder of the brother's cheeks.

"You're as bad as Nonno! It wasn't a date! He just took me to his place and helped me study Spanish since I suck ass at it!" the older of the two brothers crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Sounds like a date to me," a deep, gruff voice said. Grandpa. Shit. "How about you all come to dinner, and we can all hear about Antonio, si?" Lovino groaned, and he heard Marlene and Feli laugh behind him.

~LE POV CHANGE~

Antonio was sitting up in his room, lazily reading a Spanish textbook, when his phone vibrated repeatedly. Lovino's name flashed up, and he grinned slightly to himself, before he picked up. The sound was muffled, as if the freshman's phone was in a pocket. The same voice which had yelled at Lovino earlier could be heard.

"Now, who is Antonio?" Lovino's voice sounded bashful, and Antonio could practically hear the blush in the Italian's voice.

"He's a junior, his family is from Spain, he's the first in his family to be born in America."

"What's he like?"

"He's got curly, slightly wavy dark brown hair, and the largest, emerald eyes... He's really kind and a bit dorky, and funny and amazing and talented and athletic, and he's perfect. I swear he is..." the longing could be heard in his voice, along with a certain tone that made him seem like he was drifting off into a daydream. Antonio felt his heart rate increase. Did Lovino lov-- like him back?

"How much do you like him?"

"I..."

"Go on, boy! By Jupiter!"

"It's nothing!" Lovino exclaimed nervously. "He's... just a friend, that's all."

Antonio sighed, and hung up the phone, still smiling like an idiot at the Italian's words that were playing over and over again in his head. "My Lovi can be so adorable at times~" he laughed out of pure joy for the boy he had grown so fond of, the man who had insisted that he didn't think anything of him, now talked about him in a dreamy matter, and the Spaniard couldn't have been happier.

"Hola, mi amo~" he sent to the freshman, unaware if Lovino had found out about the accidental phone call yet. If he did, surely he would say something.

Lovino's reply came rather quickly. ''"Hey, bastardo. I realised I called you on accident. Whoops, I guess. Anyway, why did you call me 'love', you idiot?" ''Antonio looked down at the text, and blushed slightly. The Spaniard wasn't one to blush normally, but the fact Lovino would call him out made his cheeks change to the pink it was now.

Antonio sat for a few seconds more, thinking of an adequate response a reasonable answer as to why he called Lovino his love. He wished it were as simple as a plain "because I love you~" but it just wasn't the case. An idea sparked beneath his head as he typed with a smug expression. "''Because of your call, silly!" ''He waited for a few minutes, but no response came.

"Antonio!" his grandmother called. "Come here unless you want to lose phone priveleges!"

The brunette rolled his green eyes, and cast a glance over at his cell phone, which still had received no messages. "Coming!" he yelled back. "Just calm your horses for a second! You literally just called me, I am not a psychic!"

"What took you so long? I needed you five minutes ago." his grandmother complained. The plump woman was sitting in her rocking chair.

"I apologize, but you only called me thirty seconds ago. I lack the ability to read minds. If you need me, call me, otherwise I have no idea that you need me. Anyway, what is it that you need?" Antonio asked, trying not to sound too snappy. After around six months of being friends with Lovino, you needed to learn how to control your words. The Spaniard was not very talented at this, yet another thing he picked up from his best friend.

"I wanted to speak to you." she said while moving her still-nimble fingers in order to finish the blanket she had been crocheting for the last three months. "Who was that boy at the hospital?"

"I assume you mean Lovino?"

"Lovino? Bah, an Italian name. Is he Italian?" Abeula asked, and earned another eyeroll from her grandson, who was apparently fed up with her stupidity.

"No, Abeula, he's French. Lovino Romano Vargas is a Frenchman. Honestly, I know you have a brain somewhere in there..." he sighed.

"Don't take that attitude with me, Antonio! I was just asking. I mean, I know a German girl with an Irish name! Just asking, but nothing's worse than a gay, Italian boy. Especially one who hangs around with you, I mean, I hoped that if I introduced you to a nice girl, that you might be straight--"

"For God's sake, Abeula! It doesn't work that way and Lovino's straight, okay? I don't even like him in ''that way!" ''he lied. The old woman glared up at him, and with a flourish, shoved a bit of paper at him.

"Then, if you're not in love with this boy, then explain to me what this is," Antonio looked down at the recognizable handwriting in horror as he noticed it was one of his most common daydreams scribbled down. "It's disgusting! I ran my tanned fingers through the auburn hair of my Southern Italian, breathing in his scent of tomato and basil. Explain that."

Antonio paused for a few seconds, thinking of a convenient lie. He gulped and improvised wildly, and said "Paper for school, English teacher made everone write about an alternate situation, and I got stuck with opposite sexual preference." he lied.

His grandmother nodded, "Ah... Go back then. I can't stand to see my son's failure of a son." Antonio felt stung, but nodded, and stomped up the stairs. "WALK! THOSE ARE MAHAGHONY!"

"I COULDN'T GIVE A DAMN!" he yelled as he finally snapped the sweet demeanor he had kept up. "AND JUST SO YOU KNOW, MAYBE I DO FANCY LOVINO BUT IT ISN'T YOUR JOB TO TELL ME IF I CAN OR NOT." he bellowed through tears and slammed his doors. He looked at the picture of his parents and sighed. "I'm sorry if I let you guys down sometimes, but I try! I do~ And I'll try to make you proud of me... I hope I can."

Chapter Five
Lovino looked down at his phone, and read Antonio's text. "Because of your call, silly!" What did the Spaniard hear him say? He looked at the time he made the call. It was during dinner... ''For the love of God, please don't let him hear me talk about him. That was embarrassing.'' He looked in the mirror across his room and noticed his face was  bright red and felt rather hot.

"Lovino, are you okay? You seem awfully flustered..." Marlene had entered through the opened door. She had a habit of wondering throughout the house, and observing every piece of furniture, antique or not. "Were you thinking of that boy you fancy? What was his name... Uh... Anthony? No, it was Spanish. Antonio? Yes, I think that's it."

"N-no!" he stammered, growing redder by the second.

Marlene gave a small chuckle, "Well, I'm going to leave now. I can tell you don't wish to speak to me, you're just too polite to say it."

He watched as the blonde skipped out of his room, a dazed off look in her silvery-blue eyes. Now, the Italian sat on his bed, his mind slipped off again. This time, the daydream wasn't all that sweet.

''Lovino was sitting on the front steps of his school, staring at the sheet of paper from God knows how long ago. Antonio walked up, and grabbed his hand.''

''"It's your last day, amo! Come on, you can make it!" he smiled and Lovino pecked his cheek, and turned into him. Antonio kissed him lightly. "Te amo." he sighed happily.''

"I love you too, but silly, I can't make it one more day."

"Why not," a look of confusion swept over Antonio. Lovino handed him the sheet of paper.

''"I already lost." he whispered, pointing to one comment which begged him to kill himself, to make Antonio happy. ''

Lovino jerked back to reality. Where had that come from? He thought, confused. He wiped off the sweat that was beading on his brow and took deep, heavy breaths. His eyes flicked towards  the mirror again to find himself ghost-white. "Let's not think about that," he whispered to himself as he reread the text from Antonio.

''"I have no idea what you mean. I don't fancy you or anything." ''Lovino sent the message, and again waited for his response. His heart fluttered a bit when he heard the phone vibrate again.

''"Sureeee. But how about you come over and we can watch movies on Saturday? You know, get away from the tutoring stuff, and just hang out and have fun." ''Feliciano had entered the room just as Lovino had finished reading, the older of the brohters trying to keep his calm, despite the feelings that now rushed inside of him.

"Hey, Lovi, why are you smiling so much?" he asked, and stole Lovino's phone. "Ooh~ Let me respond, please! Yes, Antonio, I would love to. See you there, mi amo Grandpaaaaa! Lovi's got a daaaaaattttteeee!" he yelled, and dashed out of the room once he noticed Lovino running toward him.

"God dammit, Feliciano! Once I get my hands on you, there's gonna be a 99% chance of shitstorm coming your way! Get back here, you little bastard!" he yelled from his room, knowing he wouldn't be able to strangle his baby brother elsewhere. He sighed, giving up on the attempt and ran down the stairs.

"Feliciano! Where the fuck are you?" Lovino bellowed. He heard the sweet-sounding laugh of Marlene, and followed the voice. There they were, back in the garden. They both sat on the edge of a still pool, Feli glanced over and cried out, laughing.

"Oh no! He's gonna get me!" Lovino paused and raced over and carefully moved Marlene over and began tickling Feli. Nothing affected him more, since he, like Lovino, was extremely ticklish. The younger of the two Italian sibling, rolled into the fountain, soaking his green t-shirt and jeans. He stepped out, dripping wet and his face was gravely serious. It stood that way for five, long, silent seconds before he started to burst into laughter and push Lovino in.

"Oi! You little--" Lovino started to say, before Marlene kicked off her sandals and jumped in, splashing the both of them.

"What? It looked fun..." she smiled. "I never really do understand your relationship though... Are you guys friends? Or do you hate each other? I mean, I thought the former, but I've been known to be wrong."

"I secretly like the bastardo. Sssh, don't tell him." Lovino whispered, the whiper being purposely loud. Just when Lovino finished speaking, Feliciano jumped on his back and briefly pulled him underwater.

"I love you!" he squealed, and dashed out of the pool as Grandpa walked out.

"What in the name of Jupiter are you three doing? Why is it when something happens, it's always you two?" he rumbled, glaring down at his grandsons, but a lighthearted twinkle was in his eyes.

"Believe me, nonno, I've been asking myself this question for the past 6 years, ever since Feli tried to get me to sleep with him by putting a spider in my bed." Lovino rolled his hazel eyes.

A faint pink brushed his cheeks. "I never put a spider in your bed..." he twiddled his thumbs, not making eye contact with any of the three others.

Lovino grabbed one of the towels and attempted to dry himself off. "Then how did it get there?" he raised an eyebrow. "Eh, never mind... I'm going to get out of these clothes, okay? I suggest you two do the same, don't want to catch a cold. Marlene, you can get dressed in the bathroom, I believe you should at least somewhat fit Feli's clothes, they may be a bit big but whatever."

Marlene nodded in response, slightly shivering. "Thank you, Lovino," she grinned, and Feliciano wrapped a fluffy white towel around her, kissing her cheek. "And thank you too, Feli," her smile grew larger and brighter after she spoke.

A faint laugh was coming coming from Lovino's phone on his bed. He looked, and stared.

Antonio.

"How the hell did I even call you? My phone was in my room and I was down in the garden!" he cried, as he snatched it up.

"I dunno, maybe your phone loves me," The Spainard chuckled.

"Ugh, let me put you on speaker, I gotta get dressed, I'm soaking." he said, pulling off the red and white shirt that now uncomfortably clung to his body and exchanging it for a dark blue Chameleon Circuit shirt that was remarkably looser. "Some people think the  perfect fantasy's the girl next door, but my dream guy's got the keys to my heart and home. I never dreamed that in a million years, he'd settle for me..." he sang while removing the drenched jeans for a fluffy pair of pyjama pants that were a bit too long and a bit too big in general, but were black and covered his Iron Man logos. He forgot that they were Alfred's and he had had to use them one time he stayed the night at Matthew's.

"You've such a pretty voice!" Antonio said cheerily, startling Lovino and causing him to lose his balance. "By the way, when did you start liking me?"

Lovino's face turned bright red. "W-what? I'm tone deaf, you dork. And anyway, what do you mean?"

"Well, I never put a spider in your bed. So, when did you start liking me?"

"I.. I um... oh look! A distraction!"

Antoino's cheerful laugh rang out. "Fusosososo! I'm not distracted, amo."

"Yes you are. You are very distracted."

"Am not."

"Are too!"

"D2."

"What?"

"Star Wars? R2-D2? You said R2, so I had to finish the name." Lovino rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, you are a dork."

"Yet you love me anyway, so I gotta be doin' something right!~" he sang.

Lovino scoffed. "Do not!"

Lovi could practicaly hear the smugness in his voice, mingled with pride and happiness as the Spaniard replied, "But you still agreed to go with me~" he sang, "So etiher way, I win."

"Feli replied! He made me do it!"

"And? Are you going to not come to my house Saturday? Or do I get to watch Meg be adorable in the movie all on my own?~" he sang. A slight jealous rage poked Lovino.

"I'm coming, you stupid bastard!"

"Fusosososo! Is my little Lovi possibly jealous? Of a fictional character?"

"I just don't want the guy I love to show me up with a fictional fucking character!"

"Fusososososo! He admits he loves me!"

"I... That.. Um ah... Er... Was a flub of the words!" Lovino's face went from a faint blush to bright scarlet. If Antonio had been able to see him, the Spaniard would have compared him to a tomato as well as ruffled his auburn hair.

"Sure it was, anyway, I'm being summoned, I'll text you, okay?" Antonio hung up, and left Lovino to his thoughts and daydreams.

Trying to distract himself he opened the white sketchbook. Lovino was a pretty decent artist, but it was hard to be proud of a work when Feliciano created living, breathing paintings that have been mistaken for photographs on numerous occasions. As the older of the Italian brothers flipped through the sketchbook, he noticed it was filled with many one thing, or one person. The entire thing was littered with drawing of Antonio, beautifully playing his Spanish guitar. Granted, there were a few other things: landscapes, an unfinished drawing of Marlene and Feliciano meant to be a birthday gift for the blonde girl, but approximately 80% of the drawings were Antonio. Some of him singing, or just his face with his large, goofy smile.

"For someone who says they're not in love with Antonio, you sure do draw him a lot!" Feliciano giggled, startling Lovino and causing him to jump a bit.

"Oi! What are you talking about?" he quickly shut the book. "You draw Marlene all of the time!" he tried to come up with a more covincing argument, yet one refused to come to mind.

"Yes, I do draw Marlene a lot, but she's my girlfriend and I admit that I'm in love with her!  What's your excuse? Is my big brother in love with Antonio?" Feliciano stuck his tongue out, much like a five year-old would when winning an immature argument.

"Whatever, now get out of my room, and there better be not a single spider in my bed tonight, capisce?" Lovino glared at his little brother with his arms folded.

"I think I'd be more worried about having Antonio in your dreams! I mean, you tend to talk, or I think moan would be a better word to describe it, in your sleep," Feliciano smiled sweetly and gave an 'innocent' laugh.

"Get the fuck out! Or don't, at least I can strangle you in here!" Lovino yelled, pinning the younger of the two to the floor, and pressing on knee down on his stomach while he placed an elbow on top of hius throat. Feli, as always, went into his usual method of defense: beg for help and/or mercy.

"Nonno!" he wailed. "Lovino's trying to strangle me! Help!" he cried out again, squirming and trying to get out of the freshman's hold on him.

"STOP TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER," the yell came from Marlene, who soon appeared and dragged Lovino off of her boyfriend. "Now, Feli, I'm pretty sure that you provoked him. Now, I your grandfather was going to drive me home, but I think that if he left, you'd both be dead by each other's hands, so I am going to walk," the blonde swiftly kissed Feliciano, standing on her toes to reach the already somewhat-short Italian.

"Now, Marlene, are you sure you'll be safe walking home?" Feliciano's amber eyes were filled with a deep concern. It was obvious he cared deeply for her. "I mean, I promise I'll lock myself in my room to get away from my brother if you let Grandpa drive you."

Marlene smiled and ruffled the brunette's copper hair, making sure to stay away from the peculiar curl that they both had. The girl had found out the truth about it the hard way, and knew not to do it again. "Nonsense, love, I've done it before. It's only ten minutes. Would it help if I called or texted you when I got home?"

"Mhm," he said with a nod. "Thank you!" he smiled, and hugged her tightly. Lovino merely smirked at how cute the two were. They were perfect for each other, something that many people, including Lovino, envied.

"Bye, Lovino," Marlene said as she hugged him. "And go easy on him, okay?" she chuckled softly, before going down the stairs. Feli stared after her for a few moments then walked back to his room and shut the door. After a pause, Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" could be heard, blaring.

Lovi stalked back to his room, and shut the door, and flopped on the bed, and looked around the room. It was a nice shade of green, not a bright, neon green, but a soft, pale green, with paint splatters of red and white. An Italian flag hung over his bed, which had crisp, clean white sheets, with blue-green plaid pillows and comforter. Pictures of him and Matthew and Antoino were everywhere, along with a movie poster every once in a while (Mainly Iron Man or The Avengers.), his favourite photo was next to the family portrait Feli had painted him. It showed him in the middle, with Antoino on his left, and Matthew on his right. An insane, extremely happy grin was on his face, despite the fact the Spainard was being stupid, and had bunny ears behind Lovino's head. Mattie had one arm slung carelessly over one shoulder, and Tonio's arm was on the other. Wild happiness was frozen perfectly on all three faces. It made Lovino smile, because it was one of the rare moments anyone had made him happy outside of his family. It had been taken shortly after Lovi met Mattie and Tonio. He gazed at it, and zoned out, at first into memory, then into an impossibly sweet daydream.

''"Lovino!" Antonio called out cheerily, and waved from the top of the hill. At the sight of the brunette, Lovino's face brightened at the sight of the joyful Spaniard.''

''"Hey, bastardo," the Italian said as he looked down at the ground, well aware the if he looked into the warm, green eyes his face would start to grow red. Damn, he had fallen much too hard in love with Antonio. Not that he would ever admit it, but he was absolutely smitten. ''

''"Roma, why aren't you looking at me?" he whined, "I'm not that ugly, am I?"''

''Lovino rolled his eyes at the sight of Antonio's childish pout. "Oh, shut it!" he looked up. "Have you looked in a mirror lately? You with your wavy brown hair, and perfectly tanned skin and those bright-ass green eyes and those cheek bones and that fucking flawless build and just... How?"''

''The Spaniard smirked and muttered something inaudible. Lovino raised and eyebrow and folded his arms. "What?" Antonio asked. "Honestly, all I said was that the fact that you're in love with me wasn't being very well hidden!"''

''The Italian went scarlet. He punched the muscular arm of Antonio and hung his head. "I... I am not in love with you... you idiot!" he wasn't a very good liar, and this was apparent.''

''Antonio merely smiled in response. "Really, so if I leaned in really closely you wouldn't turn into an even cuter shade of red?" As he leaned closer, the Italian's already dark face flushed as bright as the red in the bruschetta he had prepared for the two of them. "See? I was right! And if I happen to do this, I bet you wouldn't protest." he placed his lips softly on Lovino's, causing a shiver to run up the Freshman's spine.''

"Lovino!" his brother's yell startled him out of his thoughts. "It's been fifteen minutes and Marlene hasn't said anything yet! I'm worried, she was supposed to be home and text me five minutes ago!"

He started pacing back and forth, yelling nonsensical words in frantic, rushed Northern Italian slang. His brother was prone to being a bit of a worrywart, but it was odd seeing things this bad. All of a sudden, his phone made the slightest noise. Never before had Lovino seen someone answer a phone so quickly. "Marlene?" the panic in his voice was alarming.

"Are you okay, Feli?" the weight that was pulled off of his litle brother's chest was noticeable as he let out a large sigh of relief. "I just got home, I saw the cutest little kitten on the road and got distracted. Don't worry, his owner found him."

"As long as you made it home okay, mi amo!" Feliciano laughed before yawning. "I should probably go to bed. After all, how am I supposed to stay up all night tomorrow if I don't sleep tonight?"

"What's tomorrow?" both Marlene and Lovino asked at the same time. Lovino went over his schedule in his mind, realising he had made no plans with Feliciano.

"You don't rebember, frater? We do it every year." Lovino froze, and wave of cold washed over him. Marlene still looked confused.

"What? What do you do every year?"

"Visit our parents's graves. They die tomorrow, 8 years ago.." Lovino whispered, flashing back to the night.

"Lovino, you've got to stop!" his father yelled.

''"Stop what?!" he had snarled back, "Acting like I enjoy you two running my life? One freaking C and i get shit! I suck at Spanish! I'm Italiano! Let me take that class!"''

''"No! You need to be more cultured!" he mother yelled. 5 year old Feliciano cowered in the backseat. Their mother never yelled.''

''"But no one likes Spain!" he cried''

''"I don't care! There's more to life than just Italy!" in her rage, she didn't notice the light. The light which changed from green to yellow to red. She ran it and sped toward an oncoming car. A huge semi. lovino's heart stopped. ''

''"MOM! THERE'S-" he screamed, but she didn't notice in time. His father screamed, and flung himself over his wife, vainly trying to protect her. Lovino, without thinking, did the same for his younger brother, who was flailing. "Don't move, bastardo!" they rolled onto the floor, and Lovino shoved Feli under the seat, and wrapped his body around the five year old's. ''

''BOOM! CRAAASSSH! They hit the semi. The rest was blur, it all happened so fast. He remembered the engine catching fire.''

''He smelled smoke, saw flashing lights, and was screaming. He didn't stop. Finally the door was pried off and someone came, and dragged the two out, and pulled Lovino off his baby brother. "Mamma! Papa! MAMMA! PAPA!" he screamed. The fire spread back, and was charring them. He ran foreward, only to be caught by his brother and a police officer. "Let me go! Let me go!" he begged. "This is my fault! I've got to help them! Let me help them!" he sobbed.''

''"They can't be saved, son, don't be stupid!" the cop roared. ''

"Liar! MAMMA! PAPA!"

"-wasn't your fault, Lovino." he heard his grandfather's voice rumbled. He was aware of being hugged by him, his strong arms comforting him. Tears were coating Lovino's face. Lovino shook his head, and went to his room after pulling himself free. Feli backed up what their grandfather said, and shut the door. He paused, then started to blast the music from one of his favourite bands. He listened to Do Better and Admit It, but had winded up falling asleep while Walk Through Hell was playing.

And if I could swim, I'd swim out to you in the ocean... Were the last words he heard before drifting into a troubled sleep.

Chapter Six
''"You just had to argue with him in the car!" Feliciano yelled, tears welling up in his eyes. "It's all your fault they're dead! Just because you were too stupid to get a good grade on a test! Now they're gone, and it's all your fault!"''

''Lovino didn't make eye contact with his little brother. He knew it was his fault, but he didn't mean to! "F-Feli... I'm sorry... I just didn't want Mama and Papa yelling at me for one bad grade. I didn't think they'd get so distracted they'd crash... I'm sorry, Feliciano."''

''"Sorry's not going to bring them back!" Lovino tried to hug the sobbing Venecian. "Go away, Lovino! I hate you! I don't even want to be your little brother anymore! Go away, because no one will ever like you!"''

"Lovi! Lovi! Wake up! It's time to go!" Feli called, jerking him out of his dream. "Come, wake up! We gotta leave in 15 minutes if you want to catch your date on time!" Lovino's eyes fluttered open.

"Mhm, okay... Be up in a sec...," he muttered sleepily. Feli grabbed a pillow and hit his head with it.

"Up!" and left the room. Lovino rolled himself off of his bed and stood up awkwardly and went to his closet, and flung the door open.

He needed an outfit Antonio would like. His eyes shifted to his favourite black jeans, wihch were tattered and torn around the bottoms, given to his habit of walking on the heels. He grabbed them and selected a random shirt. It was the one Antonio gave him for his birthday the previous month, March 17th. (The day also happened to be his younger brother's birthday, a year after he had been born. Go figure.) It was a simple white shirt, with a Italian flag coloured three stripes near the hems on the neck, sleeves and waist. In black text on his chest it read "I'm having a hard time hearing you, it's this ear problem called I don't give a fuck." custom made, just for him. Lovino smiled, and changed out of his Chamleon Circuit shirt and Iron Man pj pants, and put on the new clothes, laced up his sneakers, and was in the car with Grandfather and Feli in 10.

They drove in silence, and when they got to the cemetery, his Grandfather stayed. It hurt him too much, to see his son's and daughter-in-law's graves. Lovino walked out of the car first, followed by Feliciano. Without thinking, he reached back without looking, and grabbed his brother's hand and they walked staring at the ground. Their feet memorized the trail. When they stopped, they looked up, tears blurring both of their eyes. The grave read:

''Gaius Verda Vargas. ''

1970-2005 

Son, husband, father of two

Alessandra Vincenza Vargas

1971-2005

Daughter, wife, sister, mother of two.

It was a dark brown, and had roses engraved on the surface, along with an Italian flag. Lovino and Feliciano stood there, and stared. They didn't have long, only 5 minutes. Lovino wondered how they'd have taken him being gay, or at the very least bisexual. He wasn't sure. He wondered what was left. Was his mother's beautiful long auburn hair, which the same shade of Lovino's, still on her skull? Surely that was all she was by now. Bones or dust. He wondered about his father. His heart lay heavy. Finally, Feliciano cleared his throat, and broke the silence.

"Ciao, mamma, papa. Noi... Ci manchi due molto. Siamo auguriamo che voi due siete pure. Ti amo..." a few more seconds of slience then, "We should go, Lovi..." Lovino nodded.

"Mi dispiace." he whispered as he left.

"For God's sake, Nonno! Hurry up! I'm almost late! My God, you're Roman! Romans adore love! I'm in love! So hurry up!" he yelled.

21:56, June 17, 2013 (UTC)

"Mitesecre, puer!" he chuckled in Latin as they pulled up. "Get out. Have fun." Feliciano's voice piped up from the backseat.

"But not too much fun!" Lovino glared back at him and walked up the sidewalk, and rang the door bell, and Antonio swung the door open. He looked so good, it made the freshman's chest hurt.

He had on denim shorts, a shirt coloured like the Spanish flag, which was halfway tucked in. His hair was messier than normal, and his grin was huge.

"Hola, Roma~" he sang as he let him in and shut the door. "Abuela's out shopping. Warning, she's a huge homophobe, so the date has gotta be over before she gets here!" Lovino nodded, and Antonio's eyes lit up. "Hey! You're wearing my favourite outfit of yours! And the shirt I gave you!" Lovino laughed to see how pleased the Spaniard looked.

"Yeah, I am." Antonio smirked, and pulled it off, leaving him shirtless, revealing his tan, somewhat muscular chest. "Hey! Give my shirt back!" he yelled.

"Mmmm.... Nah. I like this view," he winked. Lovino flushed a bright red.

"Just give it back, or I'm leaving!" he threatened. Horror registered on his date's face.

"No! No don't! I love youuuuu! Don't leave meeeeee!" he whined, throwing Lovino back his shirt, which he pulled on. "Okay! Now for the movie, si?"

"Duh, why else would I be here?"

"Well, there are a few other things we could do, but we wouldn't have enough time for them, so..." Lovino's face bypassed maroon and turned scarlet.

"O-Oi! I came here to watch a movie! Not to lose my virginity!"

"Who says you can't do both?" the Spaniard smiled jokingly, earning a punch in the arm from his boyfriend. "Ouch, Lovi, that hurt..."

"I said so! And it was supposed to hurt, bastardo! Now put the movie on, stupido!" Antonio complied and put it on, and dragged the Italian to the loveseat, forcing the Italian to lay his head in his lap.

It turned out that Lovino had watched the movie more than he thought, for when Antonio said along with Hercules, "Aren't you... A damsel in distress?" Lovino quoted Megara, "I am a damsel. I am in distress. I can handle this. Have a nice day."

"Watched the movie much," Tonio laughed.

"Guess so. I still think it's stupid how they use his Roman name, but with Greek gods... It makes no sense, but then again, you can't expect Disney to do it all perfectly. I mean, Hera isn't set out to kill him and whatnot."

When Hercules ended the movie, by saying he'd rather be a mortal, with Megara, than immortal without her, since it'd be an empty life, Lovino turned his head up, and saw Antonio leaning down. Lovino, without knowing why, sat up a bit, and met him halfway, pressing their lips together. Propping himself up on one elbow, Lovino ran his fingers through Antonio's hair, only for the older to grab him by the collar and force him up, and kiss him harder and more passionate. When he was sure the Freshman wouldn't leave his lap, he ran his fingers through the Italian's hair. Lovino moaned a bit, trying hard to surpress the sound, only to fail, cauing Antonio to smirk into the kiss, as he pulled away, and worked his way down onto his chin, then cheek. And as he started on the Italian's neck, a voice rang out, shattering the perfection of the moment. Lovino dimly recognized the voice as Antonio pushed him away.

"Oh, Dios mío! Antonio, ¿qué demonios estás haciendo?!" It was the plump, large, and greying figure of Antonio's grandmother.

"Nada, abuela! I. .. ¡Lo juro!" he chuckled nervously,"¿Qué haces en casa? Llegas pronto!" Lovino could barley keep up with the Spanish. He grandmother was asking what her grandson had been doing, and Antonio was swearing he'd been doing nothing, and in a futile attempt to change the subject, noted she was home early. Antonio must've known it wouldn't have worked; they were both red and winded.

"''I knew you were gay! And with that filthly Italian boy! I knew I should've shown you a nice pretty girl! I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it! My only grandson! A filthy gay!" ''she was screaming. Antonio's face cortored with rage.

"Shut up! Shut up, you stupid hag! Don't you dare talk about my Lovino that way!" he roared, striding forward, and smacking her face. "That's it! I've had enough! I'm done! I'm leaving!" he screamed. He grabbed Lovino's wrist and dragged him up to his room, and packed two bags, one for school, the other stuffed full of clothes and a photo of his parents. Dragging Lovino back down the stairs, they ignored his grandmother yelling after them,

"You have nowhere to go!" with a nasty leer on her face.

At the curb, Antonio screamed back, face maroon with anger, "I don't care! Anywhere is better than here!" Antonio pulled Lovino in the direction of his house, and after a block or so, his shoulders sagged.

"That was fun...."

"Come on, amo... Grandpa will let you stay at our house. You can take the spare room." Lovino whispered, pecking him on the cheek. They walked in silence for the rest of the walk, holding hands tightly. When they got to his house, he opened the door.

"Nice house." Antonio said, looking around.

"Grazie, Grandpa built it. Papa had wanted to but then he..." he fell silent. "Anyway, shoes off. Put them in the little pool." he instructed. Antonio obeyed, and Lovino called out, leading him to the garden. "Nonno!"

"Lovino? Back already?" his grandfather called from the study.

"In a way."

"What in the name of Neptune does that mean?"

"Come and see." Feli walked in from his bedroom, beating their grandfather by two seconds, who stupidly said that Antonio was there. Lovino rolled his eyes.

"Si, Nonno, he is."

"Well. Why is he?" Feli asked. Before the elder brother could speak, Antonio told the story, leaving out the end, and instead saying Antonio had pecked him on the cheek when his grandmother walked in.

"I just got fed up. And acted rashly... I just need to stay away for a few weeks, and do a lot of sucking up." he grumbled. Lovino smirked, and held his hand again. He knew Antonio had gotten a pride issue from him.

His grandfather did exactly what he the elder of the brothers knew what he'd do.

He let him stay.

"Alright, he can take the guest bedroom. We're not expecting anyone." Antonio grinned and nodded his thanks. "Feli, can you watch those two? I've got work to do." he said, and walked back to his office. His frattelino instantly complanied.

"But Nonno! Marlene's coming over in like, two minuteeeees! I can't watch themmmmm!" he whined. That was what the younger of the two usually did when faced with an unpleasant situation.

"Hang out with them together, is it that hard?"

"They'll scare her with how... Touchy they are!" he cried. Antonio smirked, and grabbed Lovino, and pulled him in for another kiss, though one less intense then the one at Antonio's house. Lovino felt Antonio's hand grab the hem of his shirt, and, with difficulty, removed it. A few moments later, Feliciano turned around.

"Lovi, can you tw- OI! LOVI! PUT YOUR SHIRT BACK ON!"

"God dammit, Lovino! See Feli! This is why you need to watch them!" Just then, Marlene walked in. She and Feli had been dating so long, she no longer knocked on the door. She just walked in as Antonio pulled back, and smirked after Lovino asked for his shirt back.

"But... I'm enjoying the view." Antonio's green eyes were filled with a flirtatious mischief and a smug expression was plastered on his face.

"Shut up, idioto!" Lovino hollered back, his face growing hotter and redder by the second.

"What's going on?" Marlene asked, and wrapped her arms around Feliciano, who smiled and pecked her swiftly on the cheek.

Feli responded with an, "We caught them basically about to... you know."

"Oh... Well, then, let's distract them!" Suddenly, Antonio's eyes drifted to his boyfriend's hair curl.

"Hey, Lovi? What's that do? The curl?" he asked. Lovino was unsure whether the innocence in his voice was genuine or if he was doing it mockingly.

"Nothing! It does nothing! Just don't tug it!" Instantly, Lovino regretted the words. Telling Antonio not to do something was the fastest way to get him to do something.

Sure enough, Antonio grabbed it and tugged it. "What's it doooo? Tell meeee!"

Lovino shivered as the uncomfortable sensation rushed up his spine. The Italian shifted a bit in the discomfort, trying not to make it too apparent, for that would make his boyfriend play with it more. "Tonio... stop it..."

"But why?"

"Because!" he cried out.

"Not until you tell me what it does!" This time, the Italian couldn't bite back the groan which forced itself out of his lips, causing him to blush a deeper shade of scarlet.

Marlene whispered to Feil, loud enough to be heard, "Does it do the same thing yours does?"

"Mhm."

"So it turns him on?" she asked, and Antonio got a mischievious look on his face, and scooped up Lovino and darted to the Italian's bedroom and locked the door.

"Toni, what the hell are you doing?" he cried.

"Ssh, I wanna pull a prank on them!"

"What?"

"Just get in that corner," he said, pointing, "And follow my lead." Lovino obeyed, and Antonio started pounding the wall, and moaning. Lovino mimicked him, and soon enough, they heard Feli cry out.

"Grandpaaaaa! They're doing itttttt!"

"God dammit, Lovino Romano Vargas!" and they heard the patter of feet as the Italian's grandfather darted to the room, and they were hardly able to control their laughter as the old but powerful man kicked down the door.

"Ohai, Nonno," Lovino said with a grin.

"Care to join us?" Antonio smirked, and at Feli's disgusted cry and Marlene's shocked exclaim, and Grandfather Vargas' face, they burst out laughing.

"By Jupiter..."

"Don't blame me, it was Antonio's idea!" Lovino defended humself, because he knew he'd automatically get blamed for whatever happened. His grandfather still probably didn't believe him. The old man just glared and stalked off, yeliing that he'd be in his study and not to bug him. Antonio and Lovino collapsed into howls of laughter again as Feli peeked in and looked shocked when there wasn't anything out of the normal to see. He gestured to Marlene that it was safe to come in.

"You two are idiots!" Marlene giggled in a friendly manner, skipping into the room. "Oh, and I brought freshly baked cupcakes, if you'd like one," she noticed the younger of the two brothers almost run to the kitchen. "Or twenty, knowing you two."

"Where the fuck is my shirt, Antonio?" Lovino asked, looking around the room and finding himself unable to find it. "I swear to god, Antonio, if you have it and don't give it to me in the next 5 seconds, I'm going to murder you," he said, before starting to count slowly. Once he reached four, the white t-shirt was back in his grasp and he slipped it on with ease.

"Now, I heard there were cupcakes. Shall we venture out into the kitchen, mi amor?" the Spaniard smiled, grabbed Lovino's hand and pulled him up to his feet.

"Va bene," he smiled back, and together with Marlene they left. For a while, they ate the Red Velvet Cupcakes in silence, joking around casually.

That is until Lovino felt frosting hit him in the back of the head.

"Oi! Tonio!" he cried, glaring at his boyfriend, who jerked his head up.

"What?"

"Hit me with frosting, stupido!"

"I didn't!"

"Rightttttt." When Antonio went back to eating, the elder Italian brother fingered some frosting, and flung it on Antonio's nose.

"Hey!" he cried.

"Yes?" Lovino asked, in a cruelly innocent voice.

"Now it's war! Attacking a innocent bystander!" he cried, flinging a bit of his cupcake at the auburn haired Italian, which landed perfectly in the center of his forehead. "Amazing shot! Ten points to Gryffindor!"

"You little shit! You're a Slytherin anyway, you idiot!" he noticed Feliciano laughing his ass off. "And exactly what is so funny?"

"Well, fratello," Feliciano had started to speak, before all three boys had faces smeared with frosting.

"30 points for Ravenclaw~" Marlene snickered. "And what Feli was trying to say was that Antonio's not the one who threw the cupcake. That excellent shot belongs to your little brother."

"God dammit, Feli! You're gonna get it!" Lovino snarled, picking up two of the large, red cupcakes and shoving them in his face.

His brother wiped the frosting and cake from his face and smirked. "Well, you've something on your shirt. Right about here!" he had smashed one of the baked goods onto his shirt.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Feli! It's white and one of my favourite shirts, you asshole! But, it's okay, because I want to show how forgiving I am and how much I love my brother!" the older of the two Italians wrapped his sibling in a tight hair, transferring some of the cream cheese onto his brother's sweatshirt.

"Now, what is happening? It's like World War III in here!" their grandfather yelled, barging in.

"Cupcake war," Marlene said, flicking a bit of hers at him. Normally, if he or Feli did this, they'd be grounded, but because Nonno -like everyone else- had a soft spot for her, he simply grabbed a cupcake, then Antonio, and rubbed the enitre thing into his chestnut brown hair.

"Oi!" Lovino yelled, "Only I can touch the son of Odin!", and threw his cupcake at his grandfather, which hit him in the face, and dripped down, onto the Spaniard. His grandfather paused, as if pondering what to do, then lunged at Lovino and began tickling him.

"Lovino. Romano. Vargas!" the old man yelled "You messed up my face!"

"Trust me, Nonno. It was already messed up," he gasped in between giggles. While the old man was distracted, the other three flung their cupcakes at the back of his head, which made him lurch forward, and crash onto the older Italian brother. The kitchen was filled with laughter again.

Afterwords, as he walked away from bath house and past Antonio's room, he heard him and Feli talking.

"You know, Lovi likes you a lot."

"I know, my weakness for Lovino has gone up."

"Opposite of his heterosexuality."

"Fusososososo!~ Like mine." Lovino strode past, chuckling to himself.

As he got dressed, he realised, he didn't fancy Antonio a lot.

He loved him a lot.

Chapter Seven
Lovino groggily opened his eyes. He was caught by surprise as he realised the there was a tanned arm wrapped around him. The Italian rolled over to find Antonio curled up next to him, his face calm and a small smile etched onto his face. Lovino shook him awake gently. "When did you sneak into my room?" he asked.

"Well, I woke up at around two in the morning and I passed by your room to check on you... You were sort of... screaming in your sleep, like you were having a nightmare. I was getting worried, so I crawled in with you and sang softly to you and pet your hair and it stopped after a bit. I stayed with you just in case," Antonio grinned widely at him before giving a large yawn.

"Did you sleep at all?" Lovino raised an eyebrow, not getting up. Instead, he nuzzled into Antonio's chest and fought back a smile as the Spaniard wrapped his arms around him.

"Somewhat, I crashed at about four in the morning... But, I had to make sure my Lovi was okay!" he kissed the top of his boyfriend's head. "What were you dreaming about by the way? What scared you so badly?"

Lovino thought for a second, thinking about what he dreamt of last night. He had had a few sweet dreams about Antonio and then there was one he couldn't necessarily mention. But, no nightmares that he could recall. "I don't... I don't know. I can't remember. Do you know what I was saying, if I was saying anything?"

"You were yelling something about not being able to hold on anymore and talking about giving Mark a break because Matt was dead and it was frightening..." Antonio gave Lovino's shoulders a squeeze as he noticed the terrified look in his boyfriend's hazel eyes. "Are you okay, amo?"

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Lovino's voice was barely a whisper. "I... I didn't know I talked in my sleep. You didn't hear anything else, right?" he asked, thinking back on the other dream he had had that night.

"Well, I heard something else... were you in pain? Although, didn't sound like pain... Although, you swore a lot... Granted, you always swear a lot, so it could've been anything," the Spaniard shrugged.

"Liar. I have the mouth of an angelic aristocrat. My language is the most eloquent, charming, sophisticated kind of tongue to ever grace humanity," he flipped his auburn hair vivaciously, although his face was a faint red.

"Mi amo, there are a lot of words to describe your words and your tongue but sophisticated is definitely not one one them," Antonio teased. "I mean, your kissing proves that."

Lovino's cheeks flushed bright red as he punched his boyfriend's arm. "O-oi!"

"Something wrong, love?" he asked, feining an innocent tone. "I mean, you look red..."

"I-i'm fine, stupido! Anyway, out! I have to get dressed! And so do you! Breakfast! Our maid makes great breakfast sandwiches." the older teenager nodded, untangled himself from the sheets, hurridly pecked Lovino on the cheek and left, shutting the door behind him.

Lovino stood up and fumbled around in his closet, pulling out an olive green shirt and a blue-grey jacket. After he pulled them on, he grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans and ended getting dressed by doing more god damned leg lunges than he would do in his gym class. He walked out to the kitchen and saw Feli sitting, laughing with Antonio. Feli was in a simple t-shirt, which displayed a simple thing of pasta with the caption above it reading "Make pasta", while below it, it read "Not war" Lovino smiled to himself, for he had made that shirt just for his younger brother. Antonio was in a tan shirt button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, with darker brown pants.

Their maid smiled at him as he entered, "Buongirono, Lovino. Come hai dormito?"

"Abbastanza bene, suppongo." He replied, grinning back at her. He was careful to advoid Antonio's eye, which gleamed with disapproval. He knew Antonio didn't like lying, and he knew that even though Antonio couldn't understand much Italian, he could gather what it meant from his tone.

"Bene. Wash your hands before you sit down!" she screeched as Lovino made to sit next to his younger brother. Lovino rolled his eyes and complied.

"Happy?" he asked once he returned. She stuck her tongue out at him, and went to grab three plates. Lovino paused.

"Wait, Anietta, where is Nonno? You didn't grab him a plate!" Feliciano's voice was a cluster of things, curiosity with a tad bit of worry, all covered in his joking tone.

"Oh, he's out right now, left early. Said it was," she bent down and whispered, "important and confidential business that he needed to tend to immediately."

The two brothers laughed. It was a long-running joke between the three. Ever since they had moved in there, whenever their grandfather went out, she always crouched down and said the same thing, as if it were such a great secret that left the whole world hanging in the balance.

"Antonio, do you drink coffee?" Anietta asked, opening a cabinet filled with mugs and already dangling two white one from her fingers, obviously making room for a third but hesitating to grab it.

"Yes, only sugar in it though. No milk or cream," he answered, as the maid grabbed a third mug.

Lovino looked at him in shock, "No cream? No milk?" Antonio nodded.

"Oh you poor soul!" Feli and his older brother cried out in disbelief.

Antonio cocked his head, "Why? It's good!"

"Only if your taste buds are shot! Then again, you love Spainish food, so they probably are..." Lovino mused.

"Oi!" Antoino yelled.

"Okay, you three! Enough! Eat your breakfast, then get to school! Your grandfaher will have my head if you're late again, Lovino, so hurry up!"

Once they got to the school, Feli went to the lower level of the school which held his grade, and Antoino went to the upper floor. Lovino would meet him later when he had his classes later in the day. For the time being, he was headed to Chemistry with Matthew.

"Okay, so I saw you walk in with Antonio. What happened?" Matthew smirked. Lovino felt his face flush.

"We saw a movie at his house yesterday. His grandmum came in, though. She kicked him out. Or he left. Or a combination of the two. Nonno let him stay at our house for a bit."

"Ah, I see. Well, be sure you two don't-"

"Hey, Matthew!" a voice yelled. It made Lovino's blood boil with anger.

Mark.

Mattie sighed and turned around to face the jock, "What do you- Mmmph?!" he wasn't able to finish due to Mark, pushing him against the lockers and kissing him rather hungrily. He clung to Matthew's collar desperately. Lovino stood in shock, unable to move. "Maple..." he heard Matthew mutter as Mark pulled up for a fraction of a second.

Matthew squirmed and was able to work his hands up to push Mark off. "What the hell, Mark?!" he cried, wiping his mouth.

"I just needed to," he smirked at Lovino's best friend, "How about we catch a movie in a few days? I realised I've been an ass, but I was rejecting how I truly felt towards you."

"What? No!"

"What's wrong, Matt? You don't like me?" Mark almost sounded upset and hurt.

"No, you've made my life a living hell since fourth grade, and you just expect me to kiss you back and just pretend the last five years never happened? No, I refuse. And pardon my French, but tu dois te foutre. Come on, Lovino. Let's go."

"Yeah hold on." Lovino turned to Mark and punched him square in the jaw. "And Matthew's a lot nicer than I am. But let me tell you. If you go near him again, I'll kill you." and turned and hurried to catch up to his friend.

If only he knew how much he would regret it later.

The rest of the day passed without event. He ate lunch with Antoino and his perverted friend, Francis. Lovino made Matthew sit in between him and Francis. Tonio sat on his other side, and then he walked with him to his other classes. The only thing out of place, was that he didn't see Feli at all. Worry nagged at the back of Lovino's mind, but he shrugged it off. Nothing would happen.

Except, he was never met by his younger brother after school ended.

"Relax, amo! Your brother probably went off on his own! He's a big boy," Antonio said.

"Yeah, I suppose so..."

"Don't worry! Oh hey, let me cheer you up!"

"How?" Lovino asked, trying not to snap. His brother could be missing, how could he not worry?

"Will you let me cheer you up?"

"Fine."

"Fusososososo!" The idiot laughed for about five minutes without a pause, and Lovino found himself laughing. "Well, I did it!~" he sang cheerfully. Lovino laughed.

"You're an idiot," he said, smiling softly, and shaking his head laughing a bit.

"You love me anyway!~" he cheered, and the two made their way home.

When they got to their house, Lovino opened the door. "Hey, Nonno! Are you home yet?" he called.

"Si. E vieni qui! Ho bisogno che tu mi dica qualcosa!" his grandfather yelled.

"Study, Nonno?"

"Etiam studio sum," Lovino rolled his eyes. Then he paused. That... That was Latin. Nonno never spoke Latin. Not unless... Unless something was wrong. Lovino never even kicked off his shoes. He ran to the study aftering ordering Antiono to wait there.

"Nonno! What's wrong?" he cried when he opened the door.

His grandfather had greying brown hair and a beard, and amber eyes. He was tall and muscular. And seeing him angry... It was terrible. And right now he was in a such a rage that he'd never seen before.

"Lovino, who is this insufferable boy?" he asked, pointing behind him to where a tall, dirty-blonde teenager stood.

"M- Mark? What's... What's he doing here?"

"So," he said, spining around to his schoolmate. "Mark. Care to explain to my grandson why you're here?" he just glared, and shook his head.

"Make me."

"''You came here and when I found you hiding in my bushes out front, you said you were waiting for my grandsons, Lovino and Feli. You said they are you're friends, but if I recall correctly, Lovino beat you up. So why. Are. You. Here?" ''he roared, slamming a fist down on his desk. His eyes gleamed dangerously.

"L-...Lovi...!" Antonio screamed. Both Lovino and his grandfather froze. It was a horrible scream, horror and fear and pain all mingled into one dreadful call for help.

"Tonio?! What's wrong? What's happened?" Lovino screamed as he ran out. He had an idea of what Antonio saw, but prayed to God that he was wrong. ''Just this once, please, let me be wrong... Don't let me see Feli... Feli's probably with Marlene or something... Just please, let me be wrong.''

Lovino wanted to die when he got to the entrance hall. There, laying in Antoino's arms, was a pale and bleeding boy. His hair was the soft shade of brown that Feliciano had. He was wearing the same shirt and jeans and sneakers that his brother had carelessly put on.

"F-Feli..." Lovino choked. he darted over, and knelt down. He picked up his brother and wrapped him in his arms.

"L-Lovino... It h-hurts..." Feli whispered.

"Ssh, ssh... N-nonno, call 911! H-hurry." he cried, he felt his tears drip off his chin. He rocked softly, hugging his brother to his chest.

"Lovino... M-mark... H-he's here... He wanted you t-too..." His voice was nearly inaudible. It was weak, filled with pain and it looked like the words were taking away every last bit of energy he had left in him.

"I know, I know. Ssh, ssh..." Lovino ran his fingers through his little brother's soft hair gently, like his mother had always done when they were sick or hurt. She did it as she was dying... Lovino looked around, would she come to take him with her? "Don't talk... You need all of your strength, Fratellino..."

"I t-tried to w-warn you... I t-tried to c-call, but he broke my phone," he gasped, his warm, amber eyes shutting slowly.

"Feli? Feli! Look at me! Look at me!" the Italian cried desperately. Rage and despair were a horrid combination, the only thing keeping him from killing Mark was Feliciano, who needed him by his side.

"I'm sorry..., L-Lovino..."

"What for?" Lovino was crying harder now, tears dripping onto the top of Feli's head. He bent down, and softly sung the lullaby that soothed him when he was a child. The words could hardly come out, for the were harshly broken by sobs and pleas.

"They'll be in five minutes." his grandfather said, eyes lit with worry and panic. It wasn't normal for him to be so solemn and grave... "I told Marlene, she's getting her father to drive her to the hospital." If Feli even makes it there, the expression in his face said it all.

"W-when M-mama and P-papa died... I-I blamed y-you at first... I'm sorry." he choked out, his breathing slowed a bit, and he went slack.

"D-don't apologise, Feliciano... This s-sounds like a goodbye..." the older of the two buried his face in the bloody shirt, frantically clutching the cloth in his hands.

The door burst open, and the paramedics came in, picked up Feli, ignoring Lovino's screams to not take him away from his younger brother, put him on the gurney and left. One stayed behind to talk to Nonno.

Lovino collapsed to the floor, sobbing and screaming loudly. "Where the fuck is Mark, I swear to God, he's dead! I'm going to fucking kill him! You don't touch my baby brother and get away with it!"

His younger brother...

His sweet, younger brother. Oh god, his chest hurt. He couldn't breathe, but he kept screaming. Louder and louder and louder until the paramedic had to sedate him.

"Feli..." he groaned as he fell into the inviting warm blackness.

Chapter Eight
"Lovino?" he was woken up by the soft and worried voice of Antonio. His vision slowly returned to him, the blurriness slowly deteriorating. His green eyes were made narrower by red, puffy cheeks, as if he had been crying for a while.

"What happened?" Lovino groaned. There was a sharp pain in the back of his head and he felt like he was a hundred pounds heavier than normal.

"Well, the paramedics had to sedate you... You were acting absurd and they couldn't handle your screams... they were too gut-wrenching... And you hit your head as you hit the floor," Antonio explained, now stroking Lovino's auburn hair.

"Feliciano!" he sprang up to his feet. "Is he okay, Antonio? Oh god, at least tell me he's alive..."

The room sat in a still, uncomfortable silence, so Lovino could hear the nervous swallow Antonio did as he bit his lip. His green eyes cast to the tile floor as if he couldn't manage to look at the Italian.

"Antonio, I swear to fucking God, answer my damn question!" his voice dropped down to a quiet and calm tone, "Is my little brother alive?" Lovino wasn't one to get quiet, and the pure terror and rage in his eyes were unnerving.

"For now, yes, however, they're still working on him and he's not in stable condition yet. They're unsure--" Antonio was cut off by a loud, frustrated scream followed by multiple sobs.

"He has to survive, Tonio! Dear lord, he has to! I can't have any other family members die because of me!" he curled himself into a ball and started shaking. Antonio sighed softly and began to stroke his soft, auburn hair, singing a soft and soothing lullaby as he tan fingers slowly ran through the rust-coloured locks.

"He'll be okay, mi amo. I promise," Antonio kissed his forehead softly and wiped the hot tears off of his boyfriend's face now that his sobs had started to cease in a stifled decrescendo. Eventually his breathing slowed in a calm, steady rhythm, letting the Spaniard know Lovino had fallen asleep.

Antonio sat, still stroking the man's hair as he slept for he refused to leave his side. It was calm for about an hour, then, he started screaming and crying again. First about his brother, and then his parents. "Lovino!" he shook the sleeping Italian violently. "Lovino, wake up! Wake up, mi amo, it's okay!"

"Papa... I'm sorry! I'm sorry, come back! Please! I'm sorry, I promise I'll do better just don't leave! Mama, wake up! Mama! Mama, Papa isn't waking up, please I need you! Feli's okay, just I need you two to wake up!" he choked out.

"Lovino, it's okay, I'm here, It's okay, you're okay..." he shook him again, but he wouldn't wake. Antonio bit his lip in a worried thought process. "Lovino, mi amo, wake up, it's okay... It's okay, none of this is your fault, you'll be okay..."

He saw the slight opening of a hazel eye, and a weak groan. "Tonio?" the Italian mumbled as he rested his head in the Spaniard's lap.

"Yes?" he replied. Just then, a doctor, with light blond hair and blue eyes that were covered by spectacles, had entered.

"Mr. Vargas is stable, but still in a great amount of pain and seriously injured. He's sleeping now, but he'll survive. Also, the assailant has been caught, and is incarcerated unless he makes his million dollar bail, which I doubt. I think you may wish to speak to your grandfather, he's dealing with the legalities, I only know what I overheard."

"G-grazie," Lovino grinned, and gave a sigh of relief. After the doctor had left, he threw his arms around Antonio's happily, causing the other to squeak somewhat.

Seeing Lovino smile, and genuinely happy, was remarkably uncommon